WASHINGTON (Interstat) — Cade Cavalli pitched six strong innings and Luis García Jr. homered as the Washington Nationals defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 8-6 on Tuesday night at Nationals Park. Cavalli (8-4) allowed six hits and two earned runs with three strikeouts. Clayton Beeter earned his 11th save with a perfect ninth inning. Shane Bieber (2-2) took the loss.

Washington scored four runs in the first inning on two walks, a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded walk. García added a two-run homer in the fourth. Toronto answered with single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings. In the eighth, George Springer hit a three-run homer, his 12th, to make it 8-6. Brendon Little threw 2 1/3 hitless innings with four strikeouts for Toronto. Kazuma Okamoto also homered for the Blue Jays. Both teams finished with eight hits.

Attendance was 20,775. Time of game was 3:07. Washington improved to 55-53, while Toronto fell to 49-59.