Top to bottom, Nationals pound Rays 16-4

The Nationals finished up their six-game road trip with a relentless barrage of offense in tonight's 16-4 drubbing of the Rays. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash used two position players to pitch the final two innings while the Nats racked up a single-game team record 23 hits.

The onslaught began with a monumental clout off the bat of Clint Robinson that literally never came down. The towering solo shot rattled around in the catwalk above the covered field and was never seen again.

The Nats immediately followed Robinson's thunder with some lightning-quick speed as Danny Espinosa and Michael A. Taylor both reached on bunt singles. Rays starter Alex Colome then fell apart. A couple of walks to Denard Span and Anthony Rendon led to a second run before Yunel Escobar broke it open with a two-run single. Wilson Ramos added another on a sacrifice fly and then Robinson, the man who started the inning, nailed a run-scoring double. In all, six runs crossed the plate for the Nats in the second.

The assault wasn't even halfway over though as the Nats added four more runs in the fifth, triggered by Bryce Harper's 22nd homer of the season. The solo shot was drilled way over the wall in right-center, ending up in the netting above stingray tank at Tropicana Field.

A calculator is needed for the Nats' box score. They amassed 38 total bases in the game, the second-highest count in the majors this year to the Tigers' 39. Eight of the nine starters in the Nats lineup had multi-hit games led by Danny Espinosa's 5-for-5 effort.

Harper was 3-for-3 with a homer, an RBI and a walk to raise his batting average to .346.

Ramos took advantage of the batting practice fastballs from Cash's infielders, crushing a solo shot off Jake Elmore in the eighth and a two-run bomb off Nick Franklin in the ninth.

Even Ian Desmond was finally able to end his troubling 0-for-18 slump with a high chopper down the first base line and a check-swing infield single. After the game, Nationals manager Matt Williams wasn't concerned with how Desmond reached base, just that he did.

"It doesn't matter. They never even out," Williams told reporters. "You hit more balls hard at people then you get hits like that. Hopefully, that relaxed him and he can get back to what he does best."

Robinson saw his playing time increase during the road trip after Ryan Zimmerman ended up on the 15-day disabled list with plantar fasciitis. Robinson took advantage, hitting .391 (9-for-23) with two homers, two doubles and five RBIs.

"It's huge," Robinson said on MASN's "Nats Xtra." "Anytime you can string together good at-bats and get some hits and be productive and help your team win ... confidence is everything. It's good to go back home with a little bit of confidence and hopefully it can continue."

Not to be lost in all the offense was the performance of Tanner Roark in his fifth start. The right-hander kept his focus and pitched quickly and effectively, allowing just one run on six hits with one walk and four strikeouts in seven innings.

"Sometimes you get complacent when you score that many runs and you're sitting in the dugout for that long," Roark told reporters. "But you can't. You gotta keep going out there and keep attacking and get the guys back in the dugout to score more runs."

With Doug Fister set to return to the starting rotation on Thursday night at Nats Park against the Rays, and with Stephen Strasburg seemingly not far behind, that may have been Roark's final start for now.

"I have no clue," Roark told reporters. "We'll see what happens. Every fifth day, I'm still starting until I hear otherwise. If I have to go back to the bullpen, then I have to go back to the bullpen. It is what it is and I'll be fine with it."

Senator Strasburg: I'll be in Harrisburg tomorrow providing updates from Strasburg's Double-A rehab start. The right-hander is scheduled to throw between 80-85 pitches in the outing, which begins at noon.

Shortstop Trea Turner is also expected to play in his second game for the Senators. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in his debut Tuesday evening.