Gio Gonzalez shuts out the Cards

Isn't it about time that Gio Gonzalez name is throw about for CY Young consideration? He made a clear and unequivocal statement net to the fact tonight. Gonzalez threw 9 scoreless innings, allowing just 5 hits while fanning 9 Cards to pick up his 17th win and leads the Nats to a 10-0 beat down of the Cardinals. Gonzalez improved to 17-7 and lowered his season ERA to 3.10.

The Nats jumped on the Cards early in the first inning on a two run sign,e by Adam LaRoche. They were RBIs 80 and 81 for LaRoche. Ian Desmond added another run in the third inning to give the Nats a 3-0 lead, singling in Ryan Zimmerman. Danny Espinosa added salt totnhe wound with anRBI single that scored LaRoche to put the Nats up 4-0. They weren't done. Kurt Suzuki and Jayson Werth added singles to cap off a 4 run third dinning and give the Nats a commanding 6-0 lead.

Bruce Harper kept the offense going with a two run single in the fifth inning. Those two runs driven in gave Harper 8 RBIs over the last three games. Zimmerman capped the Nats 10 run onslaught off with a 2 run home run in the 8th inning.

Werth was 3-3 and improved his batting average to .316. Harper, Zimmerman, and Desmond each had two hits apiece. The Nationals improved to 80-51 and jumped back up to a 6.5 game lead over Atlanta in the NL East.