Harper doubles to contribute to early lead (Nationals win 9-1)

They don't have Daniel Murphy or Jayson Werth in the starting lineup today, but the Nationals are off to a perfectly fine start against the Braves, thanks in no small part to a guy playing for the first time in eight days: Bryce Harper.

Harper doubled and drove in one of the Nationals' three runs during a first-inning outburst, staking his team to an early 3-1 lead over the Braves on a sweltering afternoon in the District.

Sidelined for five games and seven days with a neck injury, Harper was a late addition to the lineup for today's series finale. He wasted no time showing the crowd and any doubters that he's physically fine.

Harper lashed an opposite-field double off the wall in his first at-bat, bringing home teammate Ben Revere. He then advanced to third on a ground ball and scored on Anthony Rendon's sacrifice fly to center, coasting across the plate and back to the dugout, where the rest of the Nationals greeted him with high-fives.

Harper lofted a fly ball to right in his second at-bat of the game, but Nick Markakis caught it in front of the warning track.

Both Murphy and Werth are out of the lineup, given a chance to take a scheduled day off in advance of a nine-game road trip that begins Monday in Colorado. The rest of the Nationals lineup has picked up the slack so far against Braves rookie right-hander Tyrell Jenkins.

Trea Turner, who came within a double of hitting for the cycle last night, picked up his needed two-base hit on the very first pitch of the bottom of the first. Revere then beat out a well-placed bunt in front of the plate, scampering to second after catcher Anthony Recker's throw sailed down the right field line.

Staked to a 3-0 lead, Tanner Roark has been sharp so far. He gave up one run in the top of the third on a double by Ender Inciarte and subsequent RBI single by Erick Aybar. Roark might have escaped the jam, however, had umpires in New York overturned the call on a play when Inciarte appeared to be picked off second. Those umps officially ruled the "call stood," meaning there was no conclusive evidence to overturn it.

Roark is through four innings of one-run ball on 53 pitches.

Update: The Nationals are pouring it on today. Already up 3-1 in the fifth, they tacked on four more runs to blow this game wide open. Wilson Ramos brought home one run with a sacrifice fly into the right field corner. Anthony Rendon then crushed a 2-0 pitch from Jenkins into the left field bullpen for a three-run blast. Rendon has now reached base in 20 straight games, during which time he's hitting .329 with a .406 on-base percentage, .629 slugging percentage, four homers and 18 RBIs. It's 7-1 Nationals after five.

Update II: Make it 8-1 Nats after seven. Roark has cruised throughout and is through seven innings of one-run ball on 99 pitches. That's the 10th time he's done that this season, most in the majors. The guy just gets the job done, over and over and over.

Update III: That's a final. Nats win 9-1. They're 22 games over .500 for the first time this season. They lead the Marlins by 8 1/2 games, and Miami just found out Giancarlo Stanton is done for the rest of the year with a severe groin strain.