A home run barrage the likes of which D.C. has never seen

Ryan Zimmerman isn't one to get caught up in a moment, so it's understandable he would say he felt no pressure when he stepped into the batter's box in the bottom of the third inning today, in spite of what Brian Goodwin, Wilmer Difo and Bryce Harper had just done before him.

But for Zimmerman to claim he still didn't realize what happened after he rounded the bases and returned to the home dugout ... that can't be. He really didn't know?

"I honestly didn't," Zimmerman insisted. "I looked over at Goody and I went: 'Is that four home runs in a row?' I don't know. I was just watching everyone hit home runs."

Uh, yes, Zim. That was four home runs in a row. It doesn't happen very often. It's worth remembering.

The Nationals manager, a guy who has been a part of roughly 8,000 major league ballgames over five decades, certainly was taken aback by the rarity of the feat.

"I don't think I've ever seen that," Dusty Baker said. "I've seen back-to-back-to-back, but not four in a row. It's like you almost can't believe it."

Believe it. The Nationals' 15-2 thrashing of the Brewers this afternoon featured all sorts of remarkable feats, but it was that four-batter stretch in the bottom of the third that had the crowd of 32,118 and anybody else paying attention to this game captivated.

It was only the eighth time in major league history a team hit four consecutive home runs, the first time since Sept. 11, 2010 when the Diamondbacks did it against this same Milwaukee franchise.

And perhaps nobody could appreciate it more than the pitcher who benefited from it all: Max Scherzer, who six days earlier had surrendered three straight home runs to open his evening against the Diamondbacks.

"I think (Matt) Wieters had the perfect line for that," Scherzer said. "It's like anybody can give up back-to-back-to-back. That's special to go four in a row."

Michael Blazek, the unfortunate Brewers right-hander who was on the mound for today's carnage, might not concur. But anybody wearing a curly W cap couldn't help but marvel at the accomplishment. Not to mention what continued to happen after the four-homer barrage.

When Daniel Murphy came up to bat with a chance to make it five in a row, everybody in the park expected it to happen.

"I did," Harper said. "I definitely did, because I had all the faith in him to do it."

Alas, Murphy lofted a routine fly ball to center field for the first out of the inning, prompting some in the crowd to sarcastically boo. Murphy sarcastically tipped his cap as he returned to the dugout.

"You shouldn't boo that guy," Zimmerman said. "He gets a hit three out of four times."

The crowd didn't have much time to let Murphy hear it, though. Moments later, Anthony Rendon launched a ball over the left field bullpen for the team's fifth home run in a span of six batters.

Thus did the Nationals become the sixth team in major league history to hit five homers in one inning, the first since 2006 when these same Brewers did it against the Reds.

"When you have that type of talent in your lineup and that type of momentum going, anything can happen," Harper said. "We got the guys that hit homers and have good at-bats, and that's what we did today."

The onslaught continued through the rest of the third inning, with seven runs eventually crossing the plate. And then it continued through the fourth inning, with six more runs for the home club, four of them provided via homers by Jose Lobaton and Zimmerman (the 237th of the latter's career, tied with Frank Howard for the most in Washington baseball history).

All told, the Nationals hit eight home runs in the game's first four innings, scoring 15 runs. And combined with Wednesday night's late seven-run rally, the Nats completed a stretch of five offensive innings in which they totaled 22 runs.

"That's what makes us so dangerous," Scherzer said. "We have power all the way through the lineup. If you miss your spots as a pitcher, man, as an offense we can really do some damage."