Henderson's career-high four RBIs guide Orioles to series sweep in D.C. (updated)

WASHINGTON – Tyler Wells was stretched a little more tonight in his second start since recovering from an oblique injury. Twelve of 14 batters retired, 50 pitches thrown. A comfortable increase from his previous workload.

The two hits were two-out solo home runs. An uncomfortable result for a team that’s challenged to bust out offensively.

Breathing room often is a sigh of relief when scant support doesn’t cost the Orioles ground in the wild card race.

They gained it tonight. A rookie who's spent two weeks in the majors made certain of it. A breath of fresh air since his arrival.

Stuck on one run and unable to find a clutch hit, the Orioles took advantage of a pitching change by the Nationals in the seventh, got four RBIs from Gunnar Henderson, and swept the series with a 6-2 victory before an announced crowd of 32,497.

Henderson had his first career triple to score two runs against Mason Thompson, and he came around on left fielder César Hernández’s error for a 4-2 lead. Jorge Mateo followed with his first home run since Aug. 19, and the Orioles were poised to improve their record to 75-67.

The No. 1 prospect's first career three-RBI game became four when he doubled off Paolo Espino in the eighth to score Cedric Mullins.

The Rays lost in Toronto, allowing the Orioles to move within four games of the last wild card.

"I'm extremely impressed with him," Wells said of Henderson. "He's a great kid. He's always got a smile on his face. I think he plays the game hard, plays the game the right way. I think that his levelheadedness is really starting to show, and at the plate it's obviously working extremely well, and then in the infield, as well, he's done a good job so far."

Cionel Pérez pitched the seventh after retiring all five batters faced last night, and he stranded a runner following Hernández’s leadoff single. Mateo made a nice sliding stop of CJ Abrams' ground ball and got the force at second base, and Pérez ran down Alex Call’s slow roller near the third base line and threw him out.

Jake Reed and Bryan Baker each tossed a scoreless inning.

Patrick Corbin held the Orioles to one run and four hits with no walks over six innings and lowered his ERA from 6.30 to 6.11. Thompson replaced him in the seventh and they came to life.

Jesús Aguilar led off with a single, his first multi-hit game since Aug. 13, and Mullins followed with a single as a pinch-hitter for Ryan McKenna. Henderson went the opposite way with a line drive past the bag, and Hernández, playing only his fourth career game in left field, lost his grip on the ball while making the throw. The ensuing chase allowed Henderson, the youngest position player in the majors, to come all the way around.

Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) tweeted that Henderson was clocked at 11.12 seconds going home to third, the third-fastest tracked time in the majors this season. His helmet stayed on his head.

"I saw him wind back to throw it, so I slowed up a little bit and I see Manso (Tony Mansolino) just waving his arms home," Henderson said. "It kind of caught me off guard, but was able to score, so that was pretty fun.

"It was just a bunch of smiles and laughs in (the dugout) because that was the first Little League home run that I've had in a long time. It was a triple, but I still count it. That was pretty fun."

Wells watched from the clubhouse.

"I know that we were in here screaming," he said. "All we see is him racing his way to home plate, so it was pretty cool to see."

Mateo barreled a slider, Adley Rutschman drew his 53^rd walk in 94 games after Austin Hays grounded out, and Thompson was removed.

Mullins singled with one out in the eighth, after Terrin Vavra singled and was thrown out at second base. Henderson doubled off the right-center field fence to raise his average to .320 with an .890 OPS in 14 games.

"I felt like this year I was really able to learn a lot from my experiences last year, and just coming in this year being able to learn and just going to each at-bat with the right mindset," Henderson said. "I felt like it's been able to take me through this whole year, and didn't want to change anything, so I felt like that really helped me a lot."

The speed is a tool that's caught manager Brandon Hyde by surprise.

"I didn't know, I haven't seen him play very much," Hyde said, "so to watch him run, for a guy that physical, that size, that's pretty fun."

Wells retired the first eight batters before Riley Adams lined a slider into the left field seats to tie the game 1-1. The same pitch to Lane Thomas produced a called third strike.

Luke Voit drove a 94 mph fastball 426 feet to center field with two outs in the fourth for his 20^th home run of the season and his seventh with the Nationals.

"I thought he looked a little more sharp than his first outing, and we kind of expected that," Hyde said. "Just a couple homers, solo shots, but I thought the slider was good, the fastball was good. I thought he did a great job."

"I'm starting to feel pretty good right now," Wells said. "It's a start-by-start things, day-by-day, just making sure that it continues to get better. Feel healthy right now and that's all I can ask for."

DL Hall entered the game in the fifth inning after warming with Austin Voth, and he retired the side in order with a strikeout.

Voth walked two batters in a scoreless sixth and earned the win against his former team.

The Orioles settled for one run in the second inning after loading the bases with no outs on singles by Anthony Santander, Ramón Urías and Aguilar – the latter just 1-for-18 before tonight.

Corbin fielded McKenna’s comebacker, dropped the ball twice and barely got the out at home. Should have been a double play.

Henderson grounded to third baseman Ildemaro Vargas, who looked toward second base and settled for the out at first as Urías scored for a 1-0 lead. Corbin assumed that he’d get the double play.

It wasn’t a good look for either side. The Nats’ inability to turn two and the Orioles failing to bust open the game early against a pitcher with 18 losses.

Corbin retired 12 in a row before Hays led off the sixth with a double. Corbin hit Ryan Mountcastle with one out, but the Orioles stranded two.

They sent nine batters to the plate in the seventh and did what was expected of them against a team with the worst record in baseball. They won again and improved to 51-39 in the overall series.

Henderson got them started and wouldn't let them slow.

"It's really impressive," Hyde said. "You expect young players to go through their struggles and he's been swinging the bat really well. The RBI ground ball early, left-on-left, hit a few balls hard tonight. I love that he uses the whole field. So huge for me. And to be able to go down the third base line in a huge spot and then really lean on a ball that last at-bat. He runs well, he's playing really good defense and he's taking great at-bats for us."

The Orioles are off again Thursday and play the last 20 games without a scheduled break. The stretch run doesn’t include a rest stop.

“I honestly haven’t looked that far ahead,” Hyde said earlier today.

“It’s hard in September regardless. These off-days were a little bit unusual because they’re so close together, but I’ve been on teams where we played 21 out of the last 20 games to end the season and things like that, and it’s just going to take a little bit of everybody. You’re not going to have the same pitchers on a nightly basis. I’m not going to be able to roll the same guys out there every single night. Other guys are going to have to step up.

“Hopefully our starters can get a little deeper in the game and give nights off for some of our bullpen guys. It would be nice if we scored a few runs to make it a little bit easier for our pitching, as well. I want us to finish the season strong and healthy.”

The Orioles will be in much better shape if they can win, and especially sweep, the upcoming series in Toronto.

"Hopefully, we can carry the momentum from here," Wells said. "We feel good. We were sitting there picking each other up in the dugout. The dugout's been really loud, showing a lot of camaraderie, team support, and I think that goes a long way. So, hopefully we can continue that in Toronto and carry out a series win there."

Down on the farm, Triple-A Norfolk’s Yusniel Diaz hit his fifth home run, Brett Phillips his third, Jordan Westburg his 15^th and Joey Ortiz his third – all of it coming within the first five innings. Diaz had four hits and five RBIs.

Drew Rom allowed seven runs and seven hits with four walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Connor Norby hit his 16^th home run for Double-A Bowie and Andrew Daschbach hit his 15^th.