Roark uses breaking pitch to get himself back in the game

HOUSTON - Tanner Roark battled with a first place American League lineup Tuesday, taking each punch in the first three innings, but never allowing a knockout blow.

The Astros scored three runs in three innings to begin, but then nothing else as the Nationals mounted a comeback 4-3 victory.

Matt Wieters' two-run shot erased their final deficit and Roark did not allow a run in his final 2 2/3 innings of work to improve to 10-8. It marks the third season of the past four that Roark has reached double digits in wins. He now has rolled up 45 wins since 2014.

Manager Dusty Baker said it was Roark's mastery of his breaking pitches that allowed the veteran to stay in the game despite having to throw 115 pitches (third most in a start this season: 125, 116).

"Stuff-wise he made the pitches when he needed them," Baker said. "If it wasn't for the two-out hits that are hard to get and hard to come by, he wouldn't have given up anything. Thing about Tanner, he had a real good breaking ball tonight against some tough hitters.

"We took him as far as we could take him and turned it over to our bullpen because we wanted to turn (Carlos) Beltrán around with (Oliver) Pérez, then we brought in somebody else then somebody else, but it doesn't always work, but it worked tonight."

Despite having a heavy pitch count, Baker elected to bring Roark out to begin the sixth. Roark managed to force a groundball out by Yuli Gurriel and then struck out Marwin Gonzalez before Perez came in to get Beltrán.

Roark said he felt he had good movement on his curveball. That pitch helped to buy some time and he got back into a nice groove.

"(It) felt really good," Roark said. "Just threw it in any count possible and it was really working tonight.

"You just got to stay within yourself, pitch the way you know how you can pitch. The scouting report is there but ultimately you've got to use your stuff that you're confident in and keep them guessing, keep them off balanced and keep them uncomfortable at the plate."

After allowing three early runs, Roark got a little angry. That fuel helped him finish off the start. He recorded 10 outs in a row to end his night.

"I felt like I got a little mad," Roark said. "Got a little fight within me and I knew it was going to be a battle right off the bat so just tried to use that to my advantage and just go at them and be aggressive and just make my pitches."

Charlie Morton had the early advantage for the Astros. But then the Nats offense turned the tables. Down 3-2 and with a man on in the fourth, Wieters was able to connect on a two-run homer that turned the game around.

"Just trying to get a ball up-ish," Wieters said. "Morton's good at getting ground balls. So, I just wanted to get try and get something that I could get underneath and stay through. I've had a tendency kind of pull of some pitches and I was able to stay through the ball and I was able to do that on that one."