Gio Gonzalez dominates in Nationals' 8-3 win

Gio Gonzalez has pitched at a high level for the past two months. The left-hander raised it another notch Monday night, throwing eight scoreless innings in an 8-3 Nationals win.

"I just thought he was in command the whole night," Nationals manager Matt Williams told reporters. "The key for him is pitch count early and keeping it down. That allowed him to get through eight (innings). He pitched really well."

Despite not losing since June 15, Gonzalez had labored through his last three starts, not able to finish six innings in each after running his pitch count up. That wasn't the case for Gonzalez in this gem. He scattered seven hits with six strikeouts. Gonzalez's only walk came in his final frame.

Gonzalez reached 117 pitches, his highest total of the season, and pitched into the eighth inning for the first time this year. He is 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA in his last eight starts.

Like Stephen Strasburg on Saturday night, Gonzalez used his a filthy curveball to fool the Dodgers all night.

"He's throwing it more," Williams said. "His percentages when he's good are about 20 percent curveballs. When he loses command of the strike zone, he's not throwing it as much. It's a good get-me-over (pitch). It's a good strikeout pitch. We saw that a couple times tonight. If he throws it about 20 percent of the time, he's really good."

The red-hot Ryan Zimmerman jump-started the Nats offense with a leadoff double in the second. Moments later, Ian Desmond belted a hanging curveball from Dodgers left-hander Brett Anderson over the wall in left for a two-run home run.

It remained a 2-0 ballgame until the sixth, when the Nats exploded for five runs off Anderson. Anthony Rendon and Bryce Harper started the attack with singles, setting up Zimmerman for another double drilled off the wall in left. Rendon scored easily, giving Zimmerman RBIs in eight straight games, the second longest streak in Nats history.

Jayson Werth brought Harper and Zimmerman home on a double to center. After Desmond singled and Jose Lobaton walked, Michael A. Taylor delivered one of his three hits to plate Werth. Desmond scored the Nationals' final run of the frame on Yunel Escobar's groundout.

Desmond smacked another deep home run in the eighth. The solo shot gave the seven-year veteran his second multi-homer of his career. Desmond's seven dingers and 16 RBIs lead the Nationals since the All-Star break.

"Picked on a curveball first time up and then got a 3-1 fastball out over," Williams said of Desmond. "He's just continuing to see it well."

With the Mets coming from behind to beat the Rockies, the Nationals remain 1 1/2 games back in the race for the National League East title. Monday's win for the Nats seemed to be especially important to start the long road trip off right, especially with rookie Joe Ross facing Dodgers ace Zack Greinke on Tuesday.

"It's just important to win," Williams said. "We'll look forward to (Tuesday night). We can't look past anything at this point. We have to play (Tuesday) and we're gonna have to play well to beat these guys."