Zimmerman "trying to hit the ball hard" in searching for power stroke

After what has happened to Ryan Zimmerman in Chicago, Tuesday's two homers are certainly a positive step forward offensively for the Nationals veteran.

Against the Cubs, Zimmerman went 2-for-19 in four games, leaving 14 men on base in the frustrating 13-inning 4-3 loss on Sunday.

Zimmerman also struck out on a changeup in the ninth against the Tigers' Francisco Rodriguez, but that can't take away how hard he has been hitting the ball in his other contact at-bats.

The two-run blast in the fifth and the solo homer in the seventh were his first homers since April 19.

The Tigers ended up winning the game 5-4. But manager Dusty Baker takes some positives from the swings his first baseman put on the ball.

"Zim swung the bat awesome tonight. Big time," said Baker.

"(I was) very encouraged," the skipper continued. "Those balls were loud and they were hit a ton and they were on the line, which is what you want to see. That's Zim that I know and we know. I'm very encouraged by how he swung the bat."

Zimmerman has always stayed even keel, whether it was telling everyone to "calm down" after the sweep at the hands of the Phillies two weeks ago or his recent struggles hitting behind Bryce Harper.

But despite his recent scuffling at the plate, he's only made minor corrections.

"I swung at better pitches," Zimmerman said. "When you're scuffling, a lot of the times you got back and you look and you're swinging at balls, and it's pretty common.

"But you take those pitches and all of a sudden you're in good counts to hit, or you foul tough pitches off that you were swinging through before and buy yourself another pitch. And the pitcher makes a mistake and you've just got to keep going."

Zimmerman is now hitting .235 with 11 extra-base hits. But last season, even with injuries, he ended up hitting .249 with 25 doubles, 16 homers and 73 RBIs in 95 games.

"Through the course of a season, you do things a little bit differently here and there, but you've been hitting the same way your whole life and your whole career," Zimmerman said. "And when you try to start changing things up drastically, that's when you turn a two- or three-week thing into a month or five-week thing. So you just have to grind out it, just keep playing hard and things will eventually turn."

One reporter asked Zimmerman if he can take some solace with how hard he is hitting the ball even if it's not resulting in a hit every swing.

"That's all you can do, try to hit the ball hard," Zimmerman said. "And unfortunately, sometimes they go right at people. But you've just got to keep going. It's a long season, 600 at-bats, and we're 100 at-bats into it. We've got a long ways to go."