Weekend sweep sets stage for showdown with Mets

The Nationals took care of business, sweeping the reeling Braves with this afternoon's 8-4 win and setting the stage for a three-game showdown with the division-leading Mets.

Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon all homered and Michael A. Taylor returned to the starting lineup with a two-run double to get the Nats on the board early.

With all of their offensive damage done in the first four innings and the Nationals comfortably ahead late, the only drama left was watching to see whether the Marlins could tag team the Mets with a late-inning rally.

Miami evened the score in the eighth and then threatened quickly in the ninth. At that moment, Werth stepped to the plate to start the eighth against former Nationals right-hander Edwin Jackson.

Werth admitted to peering over Jackson's shoulder to check out the out of town scoreboard in right-center field as he dug in the batter's box. He noticed the Marlins had loaded the bases with one out.

"Really focused up there," he said sarcastically about his approach to the at-bat.

After Werth lined out to right, his attention turned quickly back to rooting for the Marlins.

I ran in the tunnel and the guys downstairs had both games on, so we were switching back and forth and I was able to see that at-bat by (Martin) Prado," Werth said.

Sure enough, Prado wasted eight foul balls off Mets right-hander Tyler Clippard before finally lifting the 12th pitch of the marathon at-bat to left, scoring the game-winning run.

Applause began building around Nats Park as fans saw the result on their phones and then when the scoreboard updated with the final, the building erupted with even some Nats players clapping in the dugout. The Nats will begin tomorrow's game against New York trailing the Mets by four games for first place in the National League East.

"I also saw that Clip threw like 40 pitches or something like that," Werth said of Clippard's 41-pitch outing heading into tomorrow's game. "We're gonna need stuff like that. We're gonna need things to go our way. We're gonna need other teams to help us out. We're gonna have to do what we can. In the end, it's gonna come down to us. I feel like to win you gotta get lucky, you gotta be good and you gotta be lucky. Hopefully, we got a little luck coming our way."

Werth broke the game open with a three-run blast in the second, giving the Nats a 5-1 lead. Harper then homered for the third straight game, mashing his 34th longball of the season to start the fourth. He enters the Mets series on a tear, batting .636 (7-for-11) with five RBIs and nine runs scored over the last four games.

"(The Mets) are coming into our park, so we just have to keep playing our game," Harper said. "We know we're a great team. Just keep playing like we've been doing the past couple days, the past week, week-and-a-half or so. Not worry about who we're playing. Just play our game. Hopefully, our fans show out for the next three days, and we can have some fun and enjoy the game of baseball."

Just like they did on opening day, the Nationals will send ace Max Scherzer to the mound to set the tone in Monday's pivotal series opener against the Mets.

"They've circled this on the calendar, we've circled it on our calendar," Scherzer said intensely. "Look, they're gonna come ready to play. We're gonna give them everything we got. I mean, this is playoff baseball."

Werth gave a direct message to the fans at Nationals Park during his postgame interview on MASN's "Nats Xtra."

"It's gonna be a fight," said the grizzled veteran. "I hope you're ready."