Turner's dominant relief holds D-backs down 2-1

Their starter walked seven batters in five innings. Their emergency starter pitched four scoreless innings of relief, taking over all the setup roles and the closer's job by himself.

This isn't how the Nationals envisioned pitching their way to a 2-1 victory, but hey, whatever works, right?

Behind five ragged-but-effective innings from Gio Gonzalez and then four surprising and dominant innings from Jacob Turner, the Nationals defeated the Diamondbacks tonight, and perhaps found themselves a new secret weapon in the process.

Turner, a journeyman starter by trade who has been available for long relief for the last week, wound up pitching the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings to secure this most unusual win for the home club.

The Nationals gave the 25-year-old right-hander a one-run lead, thanks to Ryan Zimmerman's RBI double in the sixth, one of only four hits they recorded off Diamondbacks lefty Robbie Ray.

Turner then did the rest, allowing just two hits over his four innings of relief.

The Nationals have long known about Robbie Ray's potential. They drafted the lefty out of Brentwood, Tenn., in 2010 and had high hopes for him as a future member of their rotation.

Ray, of course, never made it to D.C. in a Nats uniform. Dealt to the Tigers as part of the Doug Fister trade, then dealt to the Diamondbacks in the three-team Didi Gregorius trade, he is now finally making a name for himself in Arizona.

Ray had the Nationals' potent lineup baffled from the outset, striking out the first five batters of the night before Anthony Rendon finally grounded out to short.

The Nationals produced only four hits off Ray, but they made them count. Michael A. Taylor's third-inning triple - on a line drive that left fielder Yasmany Tomás appeared to lose in the lights - set the stage for Gonzalez's RBI groundout and the home team's first run of the night.

Three innings later, Bryce Harper delivered a two-out single and then came all the way around to score on Zimmerman's scorched double to deep center. Zimmerman's 30th RBI of the season gave the Nationals a 2-1 lead and gave the sizzling-hot first baseman a 10-game hitting streak and a six-game multi-hit streak.

That the Nats held the Diamondbacks lineup to one run to that point was no small feat, considering Gonzalez's lack of command and the team's lack of trustworthy arms in the bullpen.

After a dominant April in which he went 3-0 with a 1.62 ERA, Gonzalez reverted to some bad old habits, struggling to find the strike zone and taking a lot of time between pitches. He wound up issuing seven walks, matching his career high and matching the Nationals' club record, also held by Tony Armas Jr. and Matt Chico.

Somehow, though, Gonzalez managed to keep the damage to a minimum. Chris Owings homered to left in the top of the first, but he was the lone Arizona batter to cross the plate against Gonzalez, who recorded a big strikeout of Brandon Drury to strand the bases loaded in the fifth and end his night at 105 pitches.