Gonzalez, Long Ball Leads Nationals Over Phils
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Gio Gonzalez tossed seven sharp innings, the Nationals hit a pair of consecutive homers off Cliff Lee and Washington beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Wednesday night.
Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos hit back-to-back shots off Lee to start the fifth and Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth did it to open the sixth.
Gonzalez (7-3) gave up one run and six hits, striking out five to win his fourth straight start. The lefty has eight quality starts in a row.
Lee (10-3) had allowed nine homers in his first 135 2-3 innings this year before yielding four in a span of eight batters.
Darin Ruf hit a solo shot for the Phillies, who failed to reach .500 for the first time since June 7.
Lee allowed four runs and nine hits in seven innings. The All-Star lefty gave up multiple homers in a game once before this season in a 4-2 win over Washington on June 18.
The defending NL East champion Nationals, who moved within five games of first-place Atlanta, lost the first two of this four-game set against Philadelphia. The Phillies are 2½ behind Washington.
Rendon lined an 0-2 pitch to left to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the fifth. Ramos followed with an opposite-field shot to right.
Zimmerman connected on an 0-2 pitch in the sixth, hitting a towering drive to left-center. Werth followed with a shot to left.
Ruf hit an opposite-field drive to right with two outs in the seventh for his first with the Phillies this season. Ruf had 38 homers at Double-A Reading last year and three more in a brief stint in Philadelphia.
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