Balanced offensive attack knocks out Lincecum (Nats close road trip with 6-4 win)

The days when Tim Lincecum was nearly unhittable seem oh so long ago. The two-time National League Cy Young Award winner went just four innings today, allowing eight hits and four runs before being yanked from the game. The Nationals hit Lincecum hard, notching three extra-base hits off him, including Danny Espinosa's long two-run homer to center which broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Nats a 4-2 lead. How well did Espinosa strike that ball? Well enough to cut it through the San Francisco breeze and still send it out to the deepest part of the park. That ball was crushed. Espinosa, in fact, has the Nationals' only two home runs this whole series. Meanwhile, Lincecum now has a season ERA of 5.45, more than double his ERA in his two Cy Young years (2.62 in 2008 and 2.48 in 2009). His disaster of a 2012 season continues. Steve Lombardozzi now has three hits on the game, Adam LaRoche has two, Jayson Werth is 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Espinosa has his average up to .253 with his 1-for-2 game. Stephen Strasburg has delivered six strong innings and has allowed just two runs despite uncharacteristically walking four. He's in line for his 14th win of the season, and the Nats are in line for another series win should they hold onto this lead. Update: It's a 6-3 Nationals lead as we go to the ninth, with the Nats looking to finish off their road trip on a positive note. After going six innings on 100 pitches, Strasburg gave way to Ryan Mattheus and Sean Burnett. Burnett gave up a run in the eighth but stranded runners at the corners to end the inning and keep it a three-run lead for the Nats. Tyler Clippard will be on to close it out in the bottom-half of the ninth, looking for his 25th save of the season. Update II: Clippard got the job done despite a LaRoche dropped pop up in the ninth, putting the wraps on a 6-4 Nationals win. The victory makes the Nats 6-0-2 (win-loss-split) in their last eight road series and finishes off an incredibly impressive 8-2 road trip. The best team in baseball just keeps on rolling.