Gonzalez runs Nats' winning streak to four games

KANSAS CITY - They marched into St. Louis and won three straight, pulling off their first sweep at Busch Stadium. Now they've marched into Kansas City and taken the opener of their interleague series against the defending World Series champs.

Behind another highly effective pitching performance from Gio Gonzalez and another early offensive explosion, the Nationals took a quick 2-0 lead on the Royals and made it hold up the rest of the night.

Gonzalez wasn't as sharp as he had been in several prior starts, but the results were the same. He has now allowed one or fewer earned runs in four of his five starts and currently sports a 1.15 ERA.

The Nationals would have preferred the left-hander went a bit deeper in the game, but with his pitch count at 102 after the sixth, manager Dusty Baker had little choice but to turn to his bullpen to protect the slim lead. Sammy Solis retired the side in the seventh, Shawn Kelley and Oliver Perez combined to strike out three straight batters with a man in scoring position in the eighth, and Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his ninth save in 10 tries.

Winners of four straight, the Nats are now 18-7 on the young season, matching the best 25-game start in franchise history.

For the third time in four games to start this road trip, the Nationals pounced on the opposing starter and gave their own pitcher a lead before ever taking the mound. This time, they scored a pair of quick runs on Edinson Volquez in the top of the first, thanks to Ryan Zimmerman's RBI double and Daniel Murphy's subsequent run-scoring groundout.

The Nationals tried to add on throughout the night, but they squandered several opportunities to do so via poor at-bats (Michael A. Taylor grounded into a double play with two on and nobody out in the fifth) and poor baserunning (Bryce Harper was thrown out trying to steal second in the sixth).

Harper did finally break his recent slump, looping a single into shallow left field to snap an 0-for-16 skid that briefly dropped his batting average to .265. But had he not been subsequently thrown out, he might have scored on Murphy's double to deep center, the second baseman's 1,000th career hit.

With his lead holding steady all night, Gonzalez had little room for error. The left-hander pressed his luck throughout, putting himself in trouble with an elevated pitch count, but he kept emerging unscathed.

The Royals helped out some by running into a pair of outs. Lorenzo Cain was caught trying to steal third with two outs in the third, moments after Paulo Orlando was called for interference running inside the first base line.