Zimmerman joins 30-100 club again (Nats win 4-2)

ATLANTA - Ryan Zimmerman is heating up at the plate again. Perhaps just in time to make it really count.

On the heels of a two-homer performance Sunday night against the Dodgers, Zimmerman opened tonight's game against the Braves with two hits, including a double off the wall in right-center and an RBI single that has helped the Nationals take a 2-1 lead into the fifth inning.

Zimmerman's double to lead off the top of the second struck the brick wall in right-center at SunTrust Park, nearly clearing it altogether, a hit strikingly similar to his first homer Sunday night. The following inning, he ripped a single through the left side of the infield, bringing home Trea Turner with the Nats' second run of the rally.

That hit gave Zimmerman 100 RBIs on the season, just 10 shy of his personal record from 2006 that also stands as the club record. He already has matched his career high with 33 homers and now has raised his batting average to .304.

The significance of all that? No player in Nationals history has ever hit .300 with 30 homers and 100 RBIs in a season. (Bryce Harper came awfully close during his MVP campaign in 2015, missing out by one RBI.)

This is the fifth 30-homer, 100-RBI season in Nats history. Zimmerman has now done it twice (2009, 2017). Adam Dunn (2009-10) also did it twice. Adam LaRoche (2012) did it once.

The Nationals got their other run tonight off lefty Luiz Gohara via Turner's RBI single earlier in the third, a hit that scored Matt Wieters (who led off the inning with a double).

Max Scherzer cruised through his first 3 2/3 innings, retiring all 11 Atlanta batters he faced (four via strikeout) and giving folks around here reason to wonder if he might have something special brewing.

But those hopes were dashed when Freddie Freeman blooped a single into shallow right field with two outs in the fourth. Nick Markakis and Kurt Suzuki each followed with a single of his own, bringing home Freeman and cutting the Nationals' lead to 2-1.

Update: It's 3-2 Nats after five, with Scherzer beginning to labor. After retiring all nine batters the first time through the order, he retired only 4-of-9 the second time around, giving up another run along the way. He's at 89 pitches through five innings and appeared to have sweat right through his jersey. Suffice it to say, Max is getting a workout tonight.

The Nats did give him another run, though, in the top of the fifth. Jayson Werth doubled and then Zimmerman sent a hard grounder to third that ate up Rio Ruiz, bringing Werth home. It was ruled an error on Ruiz, though, so no RBI on this one for Zimmerman.

Update II: Make it 4-2 Nats after Anthony Rendon doubled home Turner in the top of the seventh for his 95th RBI. Also, the official scorer changed Zimmerman's ball in the fifth from an error to a single, giving him another RBI (his 101st). And Scherzer pushed himself to pitch the seventh inning once again, with much better results this time. He retired the side and ended his night having allowed two runs in seven innings on 112 pitches.

Update III: Nats win 4-2. Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle closed it out, preserving Scherzer's 15th win of the season. Doolittle is now 19-for-19 in save situations for the Nationals.