Nats bats can't find holes during 4-1 loss to Phillies

They hit the ball hard all night. But hard contact doesn't guarantee base hits, only a better chance of base hits. And the Nationals were guaranteed nothing tonight against the Phillies and handed a 4-1 loss despite a sustained barrage of line drives that found just about every fielder wearing a glove.

Rookie right-hander Alec Asher tossed two-hit ball over six innings, earning his first career win despite zero strikeouts. A trio of Phillies relievers finished things off, handing the Nationals a particularly frustrating loss that prevented them from moving any closer to a division title for one night.

The Nats now lead the idle Mets by eight games with 22 to play. Their magic number to clinch the National League East crowd remains 15.

A few hours after learning Stephen Strasburg doesn't have any ligament damage but does have a muscle strain near his elbow, rookie A.J. Cole took the mound with another surprise opportunity to earn more starts during the stretch run. The 24-year-old right-hander pitched well for the most part - he struck out eight without walking anybody during five innings - but he was done in by a pair of third-inning home runs that accounted for all of Philadelphia's offensive output.

Peter Bourjos hit the first homer, launching a 1-0 fastball off the left field foul pole. Later in the inning, Ryan Howard sent a 1-2 changeup deep to left-center, clearing the wall for a three-run homer that left the Nationals staring at a four-run deficit.

Cole was effective the rest of the night, but with no run support from his teammates, he was left to be replaced by a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth despite a low pitch count of 78.

The Nationals managed all of two hits in six innings against Asher, who recorded seven outs on line drives or fly balls to the warning track.

They finally mounted a rally in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with one out. But Daniel Murphy missed a game-tying grand slam by about five feet, settling for a sacrifice fly instead. And Bryce Harper, also representing the tying run, struck out on back-to-back splitters from reliever Hector Neris, leaving the Nationals staring at a three-run deficit heading to the ninth.