Ian Desmond

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ian Desmond singled home Nyjer Morgan in the bottom of the 13th inning and the Washington Nationals overcame Albert Pujols' 400th home run Thursday night in an 11-10 roller-coaster win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Morgan was hit by a pitch from Blake Hawksworth (4-8) while squaring to bunt leading off the inning, then advanced to third on Alberto Gonzalez's one-out single. With the infield in, Desmond bounced a grounder up the middle. Desmond had four hits on the night and drove in three runs.

HOUSTON (AP) -- Carlos Lee hit a two-run home run, Wandy Rodriguez snapped his three-game losing streak and the Houston Astros beat the Washington Nationals 5-1 on Wednesday night. Rodriguez (3-7) pitched out of bases loaded jams in the fourth and fifth innings to secure his first victory since May 12. He struck out a season high eight over five innings. Lee hit his sixth homer of the season off John Lannan (2-3) in the third inning. He allowed eight hits and two earned runs in 6 1-3 innings.

Livan Hernandez pitched a three-hitter, Michael Morse homered twice and doubled, and the Washington Nationals routed the St. Louis Cardinals 10-0 Wednesday night for their fifth straight win. Albert Pujols made two errors at third base, leading to a pair of unearned runs, as the Cardinals lost their season-worst fifth in a row. Jayson Werth and Danny Espinosa also homered and Ryan Zimmerman had his second RBI in as many nights since returning from...

Rookie Bryce Harper hit a game-winning single with two outs in the 12th inning to give the Washington Nationals a 7-6 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday night. Scott Hairston hit a solo homer in the top of the 12th to give New York a 6-5 lead. But the Nationals rallied when Michael Morse led off with his second double of the game, and Ian Desmond followed with another double for his third RBI. Reliever Elvin Ramirez (0-1) walked two batters to load the bases, and a fielder's choice by Xavier Nady left the bases loaded with two outs for Harper, who lined an 0-2 pitch to left field.

The notion of Stephen Strasburg coming back better than before? Seemed almost too good to be true for a Washington Nationals franchise so accustomed to misfortune. Rest assured, Strasburg looks as good as his word. In his first major league start since undergoing Tommy John surgery, the 2011 edition of Strasburg was every bit as impressive as the 2010 version that wowed the baseball world. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed two hits over five shutout innings Tuesday night before the bullpen blew the lead in the Nationals' 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A woeful showing at the plate while losing two of three games to the Braves has left the Washington Nationals below .500 and with an embarrassing .229 batting average. Davey Johnson hopes help is coming this week. The Nationals managed only five hits in Sunday's 6-3 loss, and dropped 6 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. The Nationals were held to only seven runs in the series. “Half the ballclub is not doing things they're capable of offensively,” Johnson said.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- John Lannan got the message when the Washington Nationals sent him down to Double-A Harrisburg, and he sure looks fine now. Lannan pitched seven strong innings, Ian Desmond had three hits and the Nationals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2 on Friday night to snap a five-game losing streak. Lannan (4-5) allowed two runs and four hits to win his second consecutive start and earn his first win at home since Aug. 5, 2009, against Florida. The left-hander, Washington's opening-day starter the last two seasons, is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three starts since he returned from the minors.

New father Ian Desmond homered and tripled in his first game back from paternity leave and Livan Hernandez pitched eight strong innings to lead the Washington Nationals past the New York Mets 4-3 Thursday night. Desmond’s solo home run in the fifth was his third of the season and it gave Washington a 4-2 lead. He had missed the Nationals’ past two games after his wife, Chelsey, gave birth Tuesday to the couple’s first son, Grayson Wesley Desmond. The loss ended New York’s six-game winning streak, the team’s longest run since winning eight straight last June.

Jason Marquis pitched a five-hitter to beat Tim Lincecum, and reserve outfielder Laynce Nix made the most of a rare start by connecting for a two-run homer that carried the Washington Nationals to a 3-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. Marquis (3-0) struck out seven and walked none in his fourth major league shutout and first since 2009 with Colorado. Always a dangerous hitter, he helped his own cause with an RBI single and is batting .385. After signing a $15 million, two-year contract, Marquis was a bust last year in his first season with Washington.

Joe Saunders escaped two early jams to go seven innings in a combined four-hitter, lifting the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Saturday night.Stephen Drew and Xavier Nady drove in runs with extra-base hits off Livan Hernandez (3-7), which was more than enough for Saunders (3-5). The left-hander retired the final 14 batters and held the Nationals to two hits, a night after Josh Collmenter limited them to three in seven scoreless innings.David Hernandez got through a tough spot in the eighth inning and J.J. Putz bounced back from his first blown save to close out Arizona's 18th win in 22 games.Washington was shut out in consecutive games for the second time in a month despite holding Arizona to four hits.Saunders had a miserable start to the season, going 0-5 with a 5.02 ERA his first nine starts.

Ian Desmond doubled home the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Washington Nationals made manager Davey Johnson's “fun day” even better Sunday with a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins to complete a sweep of a day-night doubleheader. Desmond's drive to left-center completed a comeback from a three-run deficit - making it the Nationals' biggest come-from-behind victory of the season - and pulled Washington back to .500 after a 3-2 homestand. Jordan Zimmermann dominated the first game, allowing two hits over seven innings in a 7-0 win that followed a Nationals team meeting and prompted Johnson to proclaim: “This is kind of a fun day.” The Nationals, near the bottom of the majors in many offensive categories, have come from two runs down to win only twice this season.

A woeful showing at the plate while losing two of three games to the Braves has left the Washington Nationals below .500 and with an embarrassing .229 batting average. Davey Johnson hopes help is coming this week. The Nationals managed only five hits in Sunday's 6-3 loss, and dropped 6 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East. The Nationals were held to only seven runs in the series. “Half the ballclub is not doing things they're capable of offensively,” Johnson said.

Stephen Strasburg won a duel with Cole Hamels, Bryce Harper aggravated a knee, and the Washington Nationals managed to score five runs in an inning for the first time this season. Still, it is not enough for Davey Johnson to start shaving. Sunday's 6-1 win kept Washington above .500 and ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. Strasburg (3-5), who has pitched better than his record indicates, struck out a season-high nine and walked one in eight innings. Philadelphia scored its only run in the eighth on Strasburg's first big league balk.

This time, Bryce Harper made the catch. And yeah, it was a relief. Harper made a game-saving grab in right field and had a couple of big hits at the plate to help the Washington Nationals beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 in 10 innings on Wednesday. San Francisco had runners on first and second with one out in the eighth when Harper had to dive to grab Hunter Pence's sinking liner in the gap, keeping it tied at 1. He banged up his left knee on the play, but managed to stay in the game.

Everth Cabrera singled in the go-ahead run in the eighth against Jordan Zimmermann, and Yonder Alonso homered and helped turn a heads-up double-play as the San Diego Padres beat the Washington Nationals 2-1 Saturday night. Zimmermann (7-2) was trying to become the first player in the majors to eight wins this season. Cabrera singled in Alex Amarista, who reached when catcher Kurt Suzuki fielded his bunt and forced John Baker at second. Zimmermann tried to pick off Amarista but his throw was wide of first baseman Adam LaRoche for an error, allowing Amarista to take second.

Ian Desmond's three hits included a two-run homer and an RBI double, and Danny Espinosa and Kurt Suzuki also drove in runs with doubles, helping the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 7-3 for their season-high fifth consecutive victory. Despite playing without Bryce Harper (ingrown toenail) or Jayson Werth (injured right hamstring), the Nationals won for the seventh time in eight games. Ross Detwiler (2-3) gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings, and Craig Stammen got the last seven outs.

It took a rare team meeting for the Washington Nationals to get what lately has been a rare victory when Stephen Strasburg starts. Strasburg struck out eight in seven innings and the Nationals won one of his outings for the first time since opening day by beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 Saturday. “I was absolutely happy about getting through the seventh inning,” Strasburg said. “The biggest thing is to give your team a chance to win the ballgame. Not every game are you going to be lights out and hitting every spot.” Strasburg remained winless since his first start, though.

Jordan Zimmermann turned in another dominant performance with two-hit ball over eight innings, Ian Desmond hit a two-run homer in the fourth and the Washington Nationals finally beat the Atlanta Braves, 2-0 Wednesday night. The Braves had won five in a row this season over their NL East rival, and nine straight dating to last season. Zimmermann (5-1) made sure that streak ended with what is starting to become a typical outing, snapping a three-game losing streak that had knocked the Nationals under .500.

As a .179 career hitter, Tim Hudson doesn't expect much when he steps to the plate. After pulling off the unlikely feat of hitting a homer in his 200th career win, Hudson concluded “The stars were aligned and it was meant to be.” Hudson was a dual threat in his milestone win, dominating on the mound over seven innings and  hitting a homer and a double to lead the Atlanta Braves to an 8-1 win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday night....

Andrelton Simmons hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, then made an eye-popping play to start the ninth as the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Monday night and ended their four-game losing streak. Atlanta beat the Nationals for the eighth straight time dating to last season. The Braves swept three games at Washington earlier this month. Washington's Stephen Strasburg ended his career-worst streak of losses in four straight starts. He allowed two runs in six innings.