Nats remind Phillies who's still boss with sixth straight win

For six years, the Phillies - once the titans of the National League East - have been forced to watch the Nationals seize control of this division and undergo their own long and painful rebuild.

That dynamic could change at some point, though, and the folks from Southeast Pennsylvania are hoping this is the year it happens, with a young and talented roster beginning to take shape and getting off to a strong start.

There are still nearly five months for this all to play out, but in their first head-to-head meeting of 2018, the Nationals served up a reminder to the enthusiastic upstarts that they're still a formidable foe who isn't ready to concede anything yet.

Behind an early seven-run explosion keyed by two Bryce Harper homers and another blast by Matt Adams, the Nationals cruised to a 7-3 victory that nonetheless included a couple of negatives, most notably a short rain delay and Trevor Gott's departure with a sprained ankle.

The win, the Nats' sixth straight, catapulted them back over the .500 mark at 17-16, back to within a game of third-place Philadelphia and back to within only 3 games of first-place Atlanta (which lost its second straight).

"We're doing a great job," Harper said. "Keep having good at-bats, keep pitching the ball well. Bullpen threw the ball well. As a team, just trying to get some at-bats going, staying strong out there, and doing things we can to get on base and score some runs and win some ballgames."

As has been the case through most of this streak, the big guy batting first set the tone early.

When Harper stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the first, many in the crowd of 35,497 were still making their way to their seats. Those that already were in position had reason to jump to their feet seconds later when he drove Nick Pivetta's fourth pitch over the left field wall for his second leadoff homer in three days.

"It pumps everybody up," manager Davey Martinez said. "Leadoff hitter hits a home run to lead off the game, that's pretty nice."

And Harper was just getting warmed up. Already staked to a 3-0 lead thanks to a sustained rally in the bottom of the first, he came up to bat again in the bottom of the second after Wilmer Difo's leadoff walk and promptly crushed Pivetta's first pitch 473 feet to straightaway center field.

As the crowd roared, Harper circled the bases for the fourth time in four games since moving to the leadoff spot, the 12th time in 33 games overall this season.

"He's a special player," said Adams, getting his first chance to see Harper on a daily basis as his teammate. "His work ethic, one. He gets here early, gets his work done. And just the way he prepares, he's an animal out there. It's fun to share the field with him."

Adams didn't get a chance to bat against Pivetta in the second, because the Phillies righty got the hook after he surrendered a single to Trea Turner following Harper's homer, but he was happy to face reliever Drew Hutchison. Adams launched the right-hander's very first pitch into the second deck in right field, his fourth home run in four games since moving to the No. 3 spot in the Nats' lineup.

"I'm not one to really dwell on stuff like this, but it's definitely feeling good," said Adams, now batting .297 with seven homers and a 1.088 OPS in 26 games. "So I'm just going to keep running out there with confidence every day."

Up seven runs, the Nationals figured they'd be able to coast the rest of the evening. That wasn't necessarily the case, though, with Mother Nature and the injury bug conspiring to make life more difficult than they hoped it would be on this night.

A 39-minute rain delay in the bottom of the fourth shortened Gio Gonzalez's start. Though the left-hander did return to pitch the fifth following the delay, he was pulled after that frame with his official pitch count at 89 (though he threw more in the batting tunnel during the delay).

"Just tried to stay loose," Gonzalez said. "Constantly stretching. Threw a little bit of catch with (batting practice pitcher) Ali Modami, and we were just seeing how it felt. And it felt fine. I asked the skipper if I can get one more, or just monitor me if you can."

Turning to the middle of his bullpen in the sixth, Martinez watched as Gott served up back-to-back homers to Carlos Santana and Maikel Franco, then departed with a sprained ankle suffered when he slipped on the mound. Martinez said they'll re-evaluate Gott (who was walking around the clubhouse postgame without a pronounced limp) on Saturday.

Gott's injury may not be severe, but it did force Wander Suero into the ballgame sooner than planned. The rookie right-hander delivered by retiring all five batters he faced and turning the ball over the back of the Nationals bullpen.

Ryan Madson, who probably was hoping to avoid pitching today, nonetheless entered for the eighth and after allowing a leadoff single struck out Aaron Altherr and got Santana to ground into a double play, his fastball reaching 96 mph.

Brandon Kintzler then pitched the ninth with a four-run lead to finish this one off and secure the Nationals' sixth straight victory.