WASHINGTON (Interstat) — Luis Urías hit a solo home run and Myles Straw drove in a run with a double as the Toronto Blue Jays edged the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Monday night at Nationals Park.

Urías’ homer in the top of the third inning tied the score at 1, and Ernie Clement followed with an RBI double to give Toronto the lead. The Blue Jays added a run in the fourth on Straw’s single, and a bullpen that combined for five scoreless innings preserved the victory.

Toronto (49-58) won for the second time in three games and snapped a two-game losing streak. Washington (54-53) lost for the first time in three games.

The game began with a pitchers’ duel between former Cy Young winner Max Scherzer, making his second start for Toronto after signing as a free agent, and Washington right-hander Eddy Yean.

Washington struck first in the second inning. Nasim Nuñez singled with one out, moved to third on a walk to James Wood, and scored on Luis García Jr.’s double down the right-field line. Scherzer escaped further damage by getting José Tena to ground out, stranding runners at second and third.

The Blue Jays answered quickly in the third. Urías led off with a no-doubt homer to center field off Yean, his third of the season. Straw then lined a double to left and scored on Clement’s double to the same part of the ballpark. Clement’s double was his 26th of the year. Nathan Lukes walked later in the inning but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. lined out sharply to center and George Springer popped out, leaving the inning at two runs.

Toronto added an insurance run in the fourth against Washington reliever Andrew Alvarez. Kazuma Okamoto singled, advanced to second on a flyout, and scored on Straw’s single to center. Straw, who finished 2 for 4 with an RBI, also lined out in the ninth.

Washington trimmed the lead to 3-2 in the fifth. Andrés Chaparro, who entered the game as a pinch hitter for Jorbit Vivas, crushed a solo homer to left field, his fifth of the season. The Nationals had a chance to tie later in the inning, but after Chaparro’s blast, CJ Abrams struck out and Dylan Crews grounded out.

From there, Toronto’s bullpen took control. Mason Fluharty (5-1) replaced Scherzer in the third inning after Scherzer exited with a pitch count of 53 over 2 2/3 innings. Scherzer allowed one run on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks. Fluharty worked 1 1/3 perfect innings, striking out one. Spencer Miles followed with 1 1/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. Tyler Rogers tossed a 1-2-3 seventh. Louis Varland earned his 22nd save with a scoreless ninth, striking out two but allowing a single and a walk before getting García to strike out swinging to end the game.

Washington managed eight hits but left eight runners on base. García had two hits, including the RBI double. James Wood singled and walked twice. For Toronto, Straw had two hits, Clement doubled and drove in a run, and Guerrero Jr. doubled.

Yean (0-1) took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits over three innings with two walks and no strikeouts. Alvarez was the first reliever out of the Nationals bullpen, throwing 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing four hits with three strikeouts. Carson Palmquist worked 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Paxton Schultz threw a scoreless inning.

The game lasted 2 hours, 51 minutes in front of 17,618 at Nationals Park.

Toronto now heads into the second game of the series Tuesday, with the Blue Jays sending right-hander Kevin Gausman (7-7, 4.23 ERA) against Washington left-hander MacKenzie Gore (9-5, 3.67 ERA). The series continues Wednesday before the Blue Jays return home to face St. Louis on Friday, and the Nationals travel to Atlanta for a four-game set starting Thursday.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Washington 5, Toronto 3. Interstat’s ELO system gave Toronto a 50.60 percent probability to win. Washington was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total of 5 runs went over the over/under line of 10.