Roark made most of run support, LaRoche continues August surge

Tanner Roark got another early lead - the Nationals have scored 29 runs in the first inning in his starts, so it's becoming routine - but the right-hander couldn't gut his way through the sixth inning.

He said he wasn't finishing pitches, was trying to be too perfect. And he paid the price.

One bad inning made a 5-0 game much closer and substantially upped his pitch count.

"I felt good, just trying to be too fine with my slider and my curveball today. ... Fastball was good, thought I had good life on it," Roark said after working 5 2/3 innings and picking up the win in the Nats' 5-4 victory over the Pirates on Friday night. "Changeup was good. But when I got 0-2, 1-2, I tried to be too fine with certain pitches."

That was the case in the fourth inning, when Roark surrendered three runs, two of them coming when Starling Marte crushed a 1-0 slider into the left field stands for a home run.

"That's the one I tried to make perfect," Roark lamented of Marte's blast. "And when you try to make pitches perfect, that's what happens. He crushed it. I knew it was gone."

Roark made the most of the support, but threw a lot of pitches. He was at 107 when he was pulled for Jerry Blevins in the sixth.

"It gives you 10 times more confidence in yourself that guys came up swinging today," Roark said. "It gives you a lot of confidence, a lot of weight off your shoulders."

First baseman Adam LaRoche knows Roark gets a boost when the offense performs well behind him - even if he doesn't have his best stuff.

"One thing about Tanner, he wants to go nine innings when he's out there, regardless of the situation," said LaRoche. "You think he's been playing for 10 years with the amount of confidence. He just has a knack for keeping it together and keeping it cool. The guy doesn't get flustered. So when we get him some runs I think it just builds that confidence even more."

LaRoche and Bryce Harper each drove in two runs tonight, and LaRoche continued his hot August. LaRoche is batting .333 (17-for-51) with four homers and nine RBIs this month.

"No question, (I feel) better," he said. "I hit those two balls tonight, hit 'em good. Found the right spot. I feel two or three weeks ago, those are right at somebody, potential double play balls."

What's been the reason for the surge? LaRoche has been spending a lot of extra time in the cage and in pregame batting practice working on hitting the ball toward shortstop. He uses this tactic when he's struggling at the plate.

"I was getting in a little bit of bad habit of pulling off some pitches," LaRoche explained.