Anthony Santander and Jonathan Villar each drove in runs in the top of the first inning, and starter Aaron Brooks and the Baltimore bullpen made them stand up as the visiting Orioles defeated the Washington Nationals 2-0 Tuesday night.

Baltimore's victory extended its brief winning streak to three games. The Orioles stopped the Nationals' five-game run, which included a three-game sweep over the Cubs in Chicago over the weekend.

The Orioles and Nationals split a two-game series when the two teams met in Baltimore earlier in the season. They'll play their final game against each other on Wednesday night.

Aaron Brooks (4-7) struggled since coming to the Orioles from the Oakland Athletics earlier this summer before doing well in his last start. Brooks turned in one of his best performances of the season in this game, giving up just two hits in six shutout innings.

The right-hander struck out six and walked just one, retiring the final seven batters he faced. He threw 98 pitches, 60 of which were strikes. Brooks now has won two straight starts.

Baltimore's bullpen then came through after Brooks departed. Richard Bleier and Miguel Castro combined to get through the seventh inning before rookie Hunter Harvey worked his way out of a jam in the eighth.

Mychal Givens closed it in the ninth by striking out two of the three batters and earned his 11th save. Overall, the bullpen threw three shutout innings and struck out five.

Patrick Corbin (10-6) nearly matched Brooks while starting for the Nationals. The left-hander gave up two runs on four hits in seven innings. He also struck out nine without a walk.

The Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first against Corbin. Hanser Alberto, who has the major league's highest average against left-handers, led off with a single and moved to second when Corbin hit Trey Mancini on a low pitch.

Santander then ripped a double to deep left that scored Alberto and moved Mancini to third base. One out later, Villar drove in Mancini on a sacrifice fly to center that gave the Orioles the two-run lead, and that proved to be enough.

--Field Level Media