Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez was authoritative on the mound Thursday, demanding the ball and delivering a career-high 12 strikeouts over seven scoreless innings, allowing just one hit in a 3-0 shutout of the Mets. "I've had some fun outings this year, but definitely more aggressive this time in the strike zone," Gonzalez said. "That's a lot of credit to the catcher Willy (Wilson Ramos), we were on the same game plan. We just wanted to attack these guys, especially early in the game. These guys have to be here at 1 o'clock. It's not fair. I wanted to do my best to save the bullpen and try to go deep into this game." Gonzalez (10-10) started the season slow, recovered from shoulder inflammation that cost him time, but now has six quality starts in a row and has allowed three walks in his last four starts.

"I'd like to always think it's not how you start but how you finish," Gonzalez said. 'We've got guys that have been all year long just battling and doing a great job. Obviously, I've missed a month. I just wanted to come back and try to do my best and contribute to stay apart of this magic we have going on." Gonzalez did a nice job of mixing his fastball with his breaking stuff. He threw 64 fastballs out of 103 pitches, tossing 20 changeups. Gonzalez was asked about how he has appeared to accelerate his tempo the last month or so. "I had the privilege of pitching behind Tanner Roark and guys who work fast like Doug Fister, right behind me, Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg," Gonzalez explained. "Everyone here is just a real treat to look at and follow up just behind." In one stunning stretch, Gonzalez struck out six consecutive batters to finish off the second and third frames. "It was just more after the second and third inning," Gonzalez said. "(He said) all right, here we go, now just keep working, keep working. It's always that first inning you want to get that shoulder working, get it hot. Especially with a cool night like this, you want to be aggressive in the strike zone." Gonzalez wilted the magic number for home field in the National League down to one with Thursday's win. Friday in Game 1 against the Marlins, Doug Fister has a shot to clinch home field advantage for the Nationals. "We got the right guy to do it," Gonzalez said. 'Doug Fister on the mound tomorrow. Just know better way to do it, especially at home."