Murphy's magical night tempered with Drew's injury

Daniel Murphy participated in the World Baseball Classic this spring as the United States went on to win the title for the very first time. But Murphy did not get everyday at-bats in the tournament. Even his Nationals manager, Dusty Baker, worried that he would have to play catch-up to get into a nice rhythm once the season started.

The regular season has arrived, and Murphy has had a hit in all eight games, which is a new career-high to begin a season.

Tuesday was his best game so far in 2017. Murphy had four hits and five RBIs, both career-high-tying marks, as the Nationals pulled away from an early deficit to drop the Cardinals, 8-3.

It was the club's second series win in three tries in this young season. The Nationals have now come back to win or tie six of their eight games this season.

The only thing that slowed the positive vibe in the Nationals clubhouse after the game was the status of infielder Stephen Drew, who had to leave the game with a right hamstring strain, the same injury that has already sent starting shortstop Trea Turner to the 10-day disabled list.

"Stephen's so-so, we'll find out more tomorrow," Baker said. "So we'll let you know tomorrow. (It's a) right hamstring because his spike caught when he was leaving the box. I didn't really see it, but I can tell by the look and the grimace on his face that he hurt it pretty badly."

Suddenly, Wilmer Difo is the only remaining healthy shortstop on the 25-man roster. So who would the Nationals call up? They would have to make a move to call up the likes of Grant Green, Osvaldo Abreu or Stephen Perez.

"It's a big setback when you got two out of your three shortstops that are down," Baker said. "The shortstop that took Trea's place is now injured, so they're both injured. So we just got to do whatever we can, hopefully score as many runs as we can to try to offset that until Trea comes back, because he's more advanced right now than Stephen is."

The offense was overpowering again, highlighted by Murphy's 4-for-5 night that included a single, a double and a homer with five RBIs. Matt Wieters and Jayson Werth also smacked home runs.

Left-hander Gio Gonzalez (1-0) was sharp again. He has gone at least six innings in both his starts this season. This time he allowed one earned run (two runs) over seven frames. He marveled at Murphy's night.

"Is it really surprising you?" Gonzalez asked back to the media. "Murph is unreal. Right now, the guy's a human torch. Can't touch him. He's just on fire. He's just hitting the ball, seeing it big, almost looks like they're throwing beach balls and watermelons at him. Pretty solid right now. Tough guy to get out, and once he gets going, tough guy to turn off."

So how does Murphy do this? What is the secret to his approach? Can other Nationals players just emulate his swing? Jayson Werth says nope.

"I don't know, man. He's talking about the craziest stuff I've ever heard of before," Werth said. "I try not to listen to him, but it's working for him. He has the good plan. He knows what he's doing. If I tried to do that I might never get a hit. But it's impressive what he's doing."

Center fielder Adam Eaton had heard the stories of Murphy while with the White Sox. But viewing Murphy's work in person changes his whole perspective.

Murphy is hitting .406 (13-for-32) with three doubles, one homer and four RBIs.

"It's impressive," Eaton said. "When you play in [the American League] you only get little bits and pieces of guys in the [National League] throughout the season, but we heard he was unreal. But being able to see it, it's something special.

"He has a different mindset, as I'm sure you guys are well aware, and all the fans are well aware. But whatever works for him, and it works. He gets dang near any pitch that he needs to get to, and it's fun to watch. It's a long season. He understands that and we all understand that. But never hurts to have a day like today."