Zimmermann dominates Braves again in Nats' 6-1 win

The Nationals' bats jumped on Shelby Miller quickly, giving Jordan Zimmermann more than enough offense to beat the Braves 6-1 tonight.

Zimmermann dominated Atlanta for the second time in the last six days. He scattered six hits with six strikeouts and no walks over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. Zimmermann's control and command was superb as the right-hander only threw 24 balls out of his 109 pitches, meaning 78 percent of his pitches were strikes, the highest strike percentage of his career in 7 2/3 innings or more.

"He's throwing everything for strikes," Danny Espinosa said on MASN's "Nats Xtra". "His curveball, his slider, his fastball - everything's a strike. He's another guys that has a very explosive fastball. The last two starts he's really kept everyone off balance, and he's doing a great job throwing strikes."

The Braves haven't plated a run against Zimmermann in his last two starts resulting in a combined 15 2/3 innings of shutout baseball.

"He's good," Nationals manager Matt Williams told reporters. "Fastballs to both corners. Slider. Curveball. Elevated fastball late. Or breaking ball down out of the zone late. I thought he was aggressive in throwing it where he wanted to throw it. So it's a good formula for him."

Zimmermann lowered his ERA to 3.16 while improving to 6-5. The Nationals have won nine straight over the Braves; Zimmermann has started four of those games.

"He's got a quick arm, so the ball even plays harder than it really is," Williams said to reporters. "I mean, 94 (mph) it really plays 97 (mph) because it's such a quick arm and the ball jumps on the hitter. The key for him is strikes, and if he does that, then the fastball surprises the hitters."

Zimmermann outdueled Miller last Wednesday though the Nats only managed one run that night. It was a different story tonight as Denard Span led off the game with a single and then raced home as Espinosa immediately followed with a double to the gap in left-center field.

A few batters later, Espinosa scored on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Wilson Ramos. And then Clint Robinson delivered the big swing of the inning, drilling a hanging curveball over the wall in right for a two-run homer. When the smoke cleared, the Nats has plated four off one of the game's best pitchers before theirs had even taken the mound.

"I thought it was really important," Robinson said to reporters. "Shelby is one of the better starters in this league and to be able to jump on him like that and give Jordan a little cushion to pitch with ... I thought that was huge. He could go out there and pound the zone and attack them like he did."

Williams was obviously pleased to see his ballclub light up the scoreboard early against Miller.

"It's nice to do that in the first inning against anybody but especially against somebody as good as Shelby because he's very stingy the later the game goes," Williams said to reporters. "So good night for us offensively, especially in the first inning."

The Nationals have now won nine of their last 10 games, scoring 50 runs over the stretch, to extend their lead in the National League East to 3 1/2 games over the Mets.

"We feel good," Espinosa said after going 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. "We're feeling very good. We're swinging the bat well. We're going up there having good at-bats. We're just staying with what we do every single day and going out there and playing and letting the chips fall where they may."