Nats win 5th straight, 4-2 over The Jays

The Washington Nationals are a good baseball team. Time for Those that hesitate to believe it to accept it. The Nats are getting great pitching and enough offense to put themselves behind the LA Dodgers as the best team in baseball. The 4-2 win over Toronto tonight was the Nats fifth consecutive win and moved them 14 games over .500. At this time, the Nats hold a 4 game lead over NL East second place Atlanta Braves, the largest lead of the season for the Nats.

All four Nats runs came from the long ball. The first was delivered by Bryce Harper in the third inning, a solo shot to centerfield that put the Nats on the board first. It was young Harper's 7th of season. Harper also rallied for three hits in four plate appearances, raising his batting average to an impressive .307. Danny Espinosa did his damage one inning later, smacking a two run shot to give the Nats a 3-0 lead. Espinosa was 2-4 on the night and appears to be breaking out of a slump, collecting 7 hits in 19 at bats over his last five games. Rookie Jhonatan Solana hit his first career home run in 7th inning and was greeted by the silent treatment in the Nats dugout. Solana is now hitting .400, going 4 for 10 in his first 4 games of his young career.

Chen-Ming Wang struggled with control, allowing 4 hits, 5 walks, and 2 runs over 5 innings. However, it was good enough to even up his record at 2-2. Ross Detwiler, Craig Stammen, Sean Burnett, and Tyler Clippard combined for 4 innings of shutout relief. Clippard picked up his 9th save, his 5th consecutive save. Over his last 11 games, Clip has only allowed one hit.