TORONTO -- Yangervis Solarte hit a pair of homers, including a two-run shot in the seventh inning as the Toronto Blue Jays held off the Washington Nationals 6-5 on Friday night.

The switch-hitting Solarte became only the ninth Blue Jays player to homer from both sides of the plate.

Devon Travis also hit a home run as Toronto (31-38) snapped a three-game losing skid.

Aaron Sanchez struck out eight -- including Nationals slugger Bryce Harper twice -- over six innings, allowing three runs on six hits and two walks for a no decision. Seungwan Oh, Aaron Loup, and John Axford came out of the bullpen for Toronto, with Loup and Axford each giving up a run.

Ryan Tepera earned his fourth save of the season, while Oh (2-2) was the pitcher of record when the Blue Jays pulled ahead in the seventh.

Anthony Rendon, Pedro Severino and Daniel Murphy had RBI singles for Washington (37-29).

Gio Gonzalez (6-3) gave up five runs over six innings, fanning three. Reliever Justin Miller allowed one run in his inning of relief, before Shawn Kelley pitched a scoreless inning.

Harper made the most of a two-out walk in the first inning, stealing second and then scoring on Rendon's single to right field.

Severino added a run in the second, driving in Juan Soto with a single through the gap. Soto had reached base with a double off the centre-field wall.

Travis put the first pitch he saw over the left-field wall, bringing home Aledmys Diaz, who had reached on a base hit to lead off the third.

Solarte gave Toronto a 3-2 lead three batters later, putting a solo shot into the second deck at Rogers Centre to the delight of the 29,633 in attendance. It was his 13th home run of the season.

Trea Turner tied it up 3-3 in the fifth inning when he scored on a wild pitch that got past Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin.

Travis scored in the seventh to restore Toronto's lead after a rough inning for Washington right-fielder Adam Eaton. Travis led off with a single to right field, then Teoscar Hernandez double when Eaton lost the ball in the lights and it bounced over the fence. Justin Smoak then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, advancing Hernandez to third and bring home Travis.

In the next at bat, Solarte hit his second homer of the night, driving in Herandez and giving the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead.

Washington chipped away at Toronto's lead in the next inning as Murphy's single plated Harper from third base. In the next at bat, Mark Reynolds grounded into a double play that allowed Rendon to score.

Tepera gave up a single to Wilmer Difo to open up the ninth but bore down to get three outs and earn the save.

Notes: All-star third baseman Josh Donaldson took batting practice and fielded ground balls with his teammates ahead of Friday's game. He has been on the 10-day disabled list since May 29 with left calf soreness. Donaldson had tried running the basepaths in a workout on Thursday but still wasn't 100 per cent.