(Toronto) Carter Kieboom and Keibert Ruiz hit long balls for the Washington Nationals, who beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 on Tuesday night at Rogers Centre.
Kieboom hit a two-run homer in the second inning, off Jays pitcher Jose Berrios, as Ruiz added a three-run home run in the fifth.
Davis Schneider homered for the Blue Jays, who started the day 2.5 games behind in the final playoff spot in the American.
The team is chasing the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers for a draft berth.
The Blue Jays loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning, but couldn’t do better than a run.
The Blue Jays finished an 11 with runners in scoring position.
“You got the players you want in place, but it didn’t go the way you wanted,” Jays manager John Schneider said of his team’s ninth inning.
Nationals starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore (7-10) allowed one run and six hits in five innings of work. He had two strikeouts and conceded two walks.
Kyle Finnegan had his 25th save in the ninth inning for the Nationals (62-71), who won for the sixth time in nine games. The Jays (72-61) have lost five of their last seven games.
In the fifth, Berrios (9-10) was one strikeout out of a scoreless inning, but Joey Meneses singled with the bases loaded, and Ruiz then hit his 16th long ball of the season.
Berrios gave up five runs and six hits in six innings of work. He struck out two batters, conceding two bases on walks.
“Two homers and five runs,” Berrios said. I’m not happy about that. »
Jacob Young of the Nationals hit his first hit in major league baseball with a seventh-inning single against Bowden Francis.
“Helping the team win like that with my first hit is something I’ll never forget,” Young said.
“It was awesome,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. He sent it straight to the target. It was beautiful to see. »
Earlier in the day, star shortstop Bo Bichette was placed on the Blue Jays 10-day disabled list. Bichette has a pulled right quadriceps.
He was sidelined retroactively to August 28.
