Nationals’ Bryce Harper sits against Dodgers with sore knee

The Dodgers did strike for three runs on a two-out, pinch-hit homer by Carl Crawford.

The last time the Dodgers lost four consecutive games was September 13-16, 2013.

It’s that blurry a part of the season, the place they don’t seem to be within the stretch however can see it forward, if nonetheless fuzzy and barely out of focus.

Washington right fielder Bryce Harper went 1-for-5, extending his hitting streak to 10 games with a sixth-inning single.

For good measure, Desmond hit another homer off J.P. Howell in the eighth inning for just the second multi-homer game in his career.

Peraza also looked nice on a double play in the first inning, stayed with a grounder after bobbling it to nail Harper in the first inning and had three other putouts, though he hesitated on a potential double play, allowing a run to score in the sixth. “I fell behind and I made a bunch of mistakes”.

The Nationals needed a stellar performance from their bats and they definitely got that from the bat of Ian Desmond. “I don’t think anybody’s pulling more for him than the guys in this clubhouse”.

The Nats still trail the Mets by 1.5 games in the NL East. With New York hosting Colorado to start the week (they’ll likely win that series), there’s even more pressure on the Nats to keep pace.

“I wanted to be really aggressive with these guys, especially knowing it was tough for them with that late-night road trip”, Gonzalez said.

“When he’s locked in, you’ll see a lot of balls that are lined low to right field”, Nationals manager Matt Williams told reporters.

The Dodgers have now dropped four straight, the first time that has happened all season. If you’re gonna get there, we gotta beat the best anyway. I wanted to be dominant.

Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick, who scored at least one run in nine of the team’s previous 10 games, was placed on the 15-day disabled list less than 24 hours after straining his left hamstring running out an infield hit. Jose Peraza, promoted from Triple-A Oklahoma City to fill the roster spot, started at second in his big league debut and went 1 for 3 with a walk batting second. It tore off the nail on his index finger. Crawford has two homers this year.The National took the lead in the second inning. Last Thursday, he held Arizona to a run through six innings in an 8-3 win at Washington. The Nationals are sending out rookie RHP Joe Ross, who is 3-3 on the season with 2.80 ERA. The lefty gave up 10 hits and three walks overall while only striking out one. Greinke has only allowed 10 runs in his past six starts with six of those runs coming in his last outing.