Strasburg leads Nationals again
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Stephen Strasburg allowed one hit over six innings and Ryan Zimmerman homered to help the Washington Nationals rout the slumping Arizona Diamondbacks 9-1 on Friday night for their seventh straight win.
Michael Morse homered, Steve Lombardozzi had a career-high four hits and scored three runs and Bryce Harper added two sacrifice flies for the Nationals, who remained 4 1-2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.
Strasburg (13-5) issued four walks, including consecutive passes to Justin Upton and Miguel Montero in the fourth that led to the Diamondbacks' lone run.
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The right-hander struck out six and threw 58 of his 104 pitches for strikes en route to his second career one-hit outing.
Strasburg raised his season innings total to 133 1-3, just under 27 fewer than the 160-inning cap the Nationals have planned for him in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery.
Arizona starter Trevor Cahill (9-10) went six innings, allowing four runs, six hits and three walks while striking out four.
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The Diamondbacks have lost five of seven.
Lombardozzi tripled and scored on Harper's first sacrifice fly to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the third.
Arizona tied the game in the fourth when Chris Johnson followed the consecutive walks to Upton and Montero with a line single to left to make it 1-1.
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But Washington answered quickly and took the lead for good in the fifth when Lombardozzi singled with one out and Zimmerman homered a dozen rows into the stands in left to put the Nationals ahead 3-1.
Morse led off the sixth with his homer, a 446-foot shot onto the concourse above the center field wall. Lombardozzi singled again in the seventh and scored on a throwing error for his third run of the game.
Washington added four runs in the ninth off Mike Zagurski, the Diamondbacks' fourth pitcher, the last two coming on a double by Jayson Werth down the left-field line.
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NOTES: Strasburg's four walks were his most since a four-walk, three-inning start June 30 at Atlanta. . Montero had an eventful at-bat before drawing his walk in the fourth. First, he lost his grip on his bat and it flew into the stands, striking a fan in her abdomen. She was OK, but home plate umpire Dale Scott was less fortunate. On Strasburg's next pitch, Montero fouled a pitch directly off the bottom half of Scott's mask. Scott immediately spun and dropped to a knee before slowly leaving the field under his own power. C.B. Bucknor came in from third base to replace Scott after a nine-minute delay. . Johnson is 3 for 5 with three RBIs in his career against Strasburg. . Morse's home run extended his suddenly shortened hitting streak to eight games. Morse had an 18-game streak before a scoring change made Friday aftermoon turned his lone hit Aug. 2 to an error. . Before the game, the Diamondbacks placed RHP Josh Collmenter on the 15-day DL because of ulcers and recalled RHP Brad Bergesen from Triple-A Reno. Collmenter is 3-3 with a 4.24 ERA in 22 games, including nine starts.