Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Gio Gonzalez needed to be spot on with his pitches Friday night. No, not because he was facing the St. Louis Cardinals. His mother was sitting right behind home plate.
Gonzalez was pretty close to perfect with his No. 1 fan always in view, earning his 17th win with his first career shutout as the Washington Nationals routed the St. Louis Cardinals 10-0.
“Imagine seeing (Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki’s) face, then the umpire then my mom,” said Gonzalez, who allowed five hits. “It was like, ‘Uh oh, can’t disappoint you ma.’
“You can hear her on every at-bat, ‘swing, do this,’ and I’m like someone has to keep her quiet over there,” Gonzalez said, joyful. “One of those kind of things when you have your whole family here you want to step it up and enjoy it.”
Adam LaRoche, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman each drove in two runs and the Nationals sent 10 batters to the plate during a four-run third inning against Wainwright (13-11), who entered 5-0 in August.
Perfect through three innings, Gonzalez (17-7) held the suddenly anemic St. Louis lineup hitless through four innings. He finished with eight strikeouts and walked three during his 119-pitch outing en route to his fourth win in five starts.
The left-hander tied Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto and New York Mets starter R.A. Dickey for the major league lead in wins.
The 26-year-old Gonzalez’s father watched his son’s third complete game from another location in the stadium.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson had a 120-pitch count on Gonzalez.
“He took me right to the edge,” Johnson said. “I might have let him go over my predetermined number otherwise I’d have had Gio hassling me all week,” Johnson said. “What a great effort.”
Admittedly running on fumes late, Gonzalez received a pick me up with the remaining crowd hollering “Let’s go Gio!” as he strode to the mound in the ninth. Two runners reached, the punchless Cardinals came up empty, finishing 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
“It felt like it was a boost of energy, like having a Red Bull there in ninth,” Gonzalez said.
Zimmerman smacked a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Jayson Werth had three hits for the NL East-leading Nationals. Since scoring six runs during a recent five-game losing streak, the Nationals have outscored their opponents 26-5 in three straight win, two coming against the slumping Cardinals.
St. Louis, the National League leaders in batting average and runs scored, has tallied only one run during their four-game losing streak while allowing 32. The Cardinals entered the day one-half game ahead of Pittsburgh for the final National League wild-card slot.
“We face good pitching all season long,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “This shouldn’t happen to us one day, let alone four. These guys are embarrassed right now. We’re all embarrassed. That’s not the team we are.”
Same could be said of Wainwright, who allowed six runs and nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts. The right-hander yielded only six earned runs in 36 2-3 innings over his previous five starts.
“Just a really weird night,” Wainwright said. “Nothing that’s going to do anything but motivate me for next time. Definitely a loss you can pin on my shoulders.”
LaRoche’s single in the first inning drove in two runs.
Harper finished 2 of 4, his third straight game with two hits, including a two-run single in the fifth. The 19-year old is batting .429 (6 of 14) with two homers and eight RBIs in his last three games.
The Nationals picked on Wainwright early with two runs on four hits in the first inning and ended his night in the third. Three straight RBI singles from Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa and Suzuki put the Nationals ahead by five runs and Werth laced a two-out RBI single for a 6-0 lead.
Werth finished 3 of 3 with two walks, two runs scored and an RBI.
METS 3, MARLINS 0
MIAMI — R.A. Dickey pitched a five-hit shutout for his 17th win, Ike Davis backed him with a home run and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins 3-0.
Dickey (17-4) struck out seven and walked three in his NL-leading fifth complete game. The knuckleballer has three shutouts this year and six in his career.
The game took just 2 hours, 7 minutes.
Davis hit his 25th homer, a two-run shot off Nathan Eovaldi (4-10) in the seventh inning. Davis also had a sacrifice fly in the fourth.
CUBS 6, GIANTS 4
CHICAGO — Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer that landed on Waveland Avenue and Anthony Rizzo added a solo shot, helping Chris Volstad and the Cubs beat the weary Giants.
Soriano also had a two-out RBI single in the first as Chicago earned its first win of the season against the NL West leaders in five tries. The Cubs were swept in a four-game series at San Francisco in June.
Volstad (2-9) allowed two runs and five hits in 5 2-3 innings for his second consecutive victory after a 24-start winless streak.
Buster Posey went 3 for 3 with two RBIs for San Francisco, which had won a season-high six consecutive road games.
The Giants rallied for an 8-4 victory in Houston on Thursday night, then arrived in Chicago around 3 a.m. They mostly stayed in the visitors’ clubhouse while the Cubs took batting practice, but still looked listless for much of the muggy day at Wrigley Field.
PHILLIES 8, BRAVES 5 (10)
ATLANTA — Erik Kratz homered in the ninth inning off Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and John Mayberry Jr. hit a three-run shot off Cristhian Martinez in the 10th to help the Phillies rally past Atlanta.
Josh Lindblom (3-3) pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing one walk and striking out one.
Jonathan Papelbon earned his 31st save in 34 chances by striking out Dan Uggla, getting Paul Janish to fly out and striking out Eric Hinske in the 10th.
Martinez (5-4) allowed three hits, three runs, one walk and struck out two.
The Braves, who have lost two straight and three of four, dropped 6½ games behind first-place Washington in the NL East.
Philadelphia has won two straight and six of eight. The Phillies are 18 games back in the NL East, but they finished August with a 17-12 record.
REDS 9, ASTROS 3
HOUSTON — Jay Bruce had a three-run homer and Zack Cozart added a two-run shot to help the Reds beat the Astros.
Cozart’s home run gave the Reds an early lead before consecutive homers by Fernando Martinez and Matt Dominiguez tied it at 2-all in the fourth inning.
Chris Heisey singled in a run in the fifth to put the Reds on top and Bruce connected for his 28th home run later in the inning to cushion the lead.
It’s the fourth straight win for the NL-Central-leading Reds. The loss wraps up a dismal August for the last-place Astros, who have dropped six straight and went 5-22 in this month.
Reds starter Mike Leake (7-8) allowed seven hits and struck out six in six innings.
PADRES 5, ROCKIES 4
DENVER — Clayton Richard pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Carlos Quentin homered and the surging Padres beat the Rockies.
Cameron Maybin had three hits for the Padres, who have won two straight and 10 of 11.
Jordan Pacheco, Wilin Rosario and Andrew Brown homered for Colorado, which has dropped two straight.
Richard (12-12) had his sixth consecutive strong outing to even his record following a slow start to the season. He was 6-10 after losing to the Dodgers on July 13, but came on strong in August, winning his last three starts and finishing the month 5-1.
Rockies starter Alex White (2-7) failed to pitch past the fourth inning for his fifth straight start. He allowed three runs and four hits and walked three in 3 2-3 innings.
BREWERS 9, PIRATES 3
MILWAUKEE — Corey Hart and Aramis Ramirez both went 3 for 4 with home runs, and Pittsburgh starter Jeff Karstens left for the second consecutive time with an injury as the Brewers beat the Pirates.
Milwaukee starter Mark Rogers (3-1) gave up one run in 5 1-3 innings to win his third consecutive start in his last outing of the season. Ramirez had four RBIs and Nyjer Morgan had three hits, a stolen base and a walk for the Brewers.
Karstens (5-4) allowed four runs in the first inning and was forced to leave for the second consecutive start with a lower body injury. The right-hander allowed five of six batters to reach base before exiting with discomfort in his right hip flexor.
ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 1NEW YORK — Orioles rookie Miguel Gonzalez struck out a career-high nine over seven shutout innings in a masterful pitching performance and Mark Reynolds homered twice as Baltimore tightened the AL East race Friday night with a 6-1 victory over the skidding New York Yankees.
J.J. Hardy added a solo shot for the surprising Orioles, who moved within two games of first-place New York by winning the opener of their big three-game series.
Reynolds made two spectacular plays at first base and Chris Davis had a sacrifice fly in Baltimore’s three-run second inning against Hiroki Kuroda (12-10).
Pitching on 10 days’ rest, Gonzalez (6-3) yielded only four harmless singles to win for the fourth time in five decisions.
Nick Swisher whiffed all four times up for the Yankees, who have dropped seven of 10 and nine of 14.
RANGERS 5, INDIANS 3
CLEVELAND — Adrian Beltre had four hits and scored twice to help the Rangers hand the reeling Indians their sixth straight loss.
Beltre had three of his hits off Ubaldo Jimenez (9-14) as the Rangers rolled to their 10th win in 13 games.
The Indians’ 15th loss in 16 games made them 5-24 in August, tying the team record for losses in one month, set in July 1914.
Ryan Dempster (4-1) gave up two hits and one unearned run in six innings.
TIGERS 7, WHITE SOX 4
DETROIT — Delmon Young hit a tiebreaking, three-run double in the seventh inning and the Tigers beat Chicago, pulling within two games of the AL Central-leading White Sox.
Miguel Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta homered as the Tigers took the opener of the three-game series.
Octavio Dotel (5-2) pitched 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief. Joaquin Benoit struck out the side in the eighth inning and Jose Valverde closed for his 27th save in 31 chances.
Jake Peavy (9-10) gave up six runs and nine hits over six innings.
BLUE JAYS 2, RAYS 1
TORONTO — Moises Sierra homered and threw out pinch-runner Elliot Johnson at home plate for the final out, preserving Brandon Morrow’s first win since June 6 and leading the Blue Jays to a victory over the slumping Rays.
Edwin Encarnacion hit his 35th home run as the Blue Jays handed the Rays their sixth loss in seven games.
Morrow (8-5) allowed one run and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out five and threw 102 pitches, 67 strikes.
Jeremy Hellickson (8-10) allowed two runs and four hits in six-plus innings. He walked one and struck out two.
