Yankees win 5-3, sweep 3 games from the Nationals despite trailing after 7 innings in each

The Yankees tied the White Sox with their eighth win when trailing in the eighth inning or later for the most such victories in the American League.

With men on first and second against Andrew Alvarez (2-3), Rice hit a drive on the fourth straight curveball from Alvarez that center fielder Dylan Crews was unable to catch while slamming into the wall.

Both runners scored, making it 4-3 and putting Ryan Yarbrough (2-0) in line for the win. Paul Blackburn returned the final six Washington batters for his first save.

José Caballero hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth to give New York a two-run lead.

The Yankees are 6-34 when trailing after seven innings, with half of the wins coming in this series.

James Wood led off the bottom of the first with a home run, and Curtis Mead also homered for Washington. Wood's 28th homer of the year was also his 10th leadoff shot, breaking the Nationals' record he shared with Alfonso Soriano, who hit nine in 2006.

Cody Bellinger led off the fifth with a double for the Yankees and scored on Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s single. After a wild pitch moved Chisholm to second, Austin Wells hit a two-out RBI single to make it 2-1.

Mead came up as a pinch-hitter and homered in the sixth to tie it. Chisholm's throwing error with two outs in the seventh allowed a run to score, giving the Nationals a 3-2 advantage.

Washington's Cade Cavalli allowed two runs and four hits in six innings in his first start since serving a five-game suspension for his role in a bench-clearing incident in Boston on June 30.

Abimelec Ortiz hit third in his major league debut for Washington. He went 1 for 2 with a double before Mead hit for him in the sixth.

Up next

The Yankees return after the break on Friday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nationals go on the road to face the Athletics.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB