Gonzalez finally got fastball to click and then offense cranked it up for 9-2 win

Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez has had a lot of success with the team since his arrival in 2012. Amazingly, though, he had never defeated the Braves at Nats Park until Friday night. Gonzalez (3-2) went seven strong innings in a 9-2 shellacking of Atlanta. The left-hander gave up only two earned runs on five hits with one walk. He struck out eight hitters. Gonzalez has now struck out 25 batters in his last three starts. The Braves managed a couple of runs in the first three innings against Gonzalez. First baseman Freddie Freeman had a pair of doubles and an RBI early. But in the seventh, he struck out on a Gonzalez 92 mph, four-seam fastball. Gonzalez was able to set down 11 consecutive hitters from the end of the third until the second batter in the seventh. "He was the best I've seen (him)," Freeman said. "He settled down about the fourth or fifth inning. He didn't miss his spots since those innings. He was tough tonight." Gonzalez appreciated those thoughts, but he also realized how good the Braves can be when they are all hitting. Holding them to five base hits was an accomplishment. "That makes me feel (good) right now, especially a guy who's seeing the ball like a beach ball," he said. "It's nice hearing that from him, especially a great hitter, a guy who sees the ball pretty well against us. Thank you, Freddie. "That's a great hitting team," Gonzalez said. "They're pesky. They'll give you a fight all the way to the end. There are some guys with power. There are some guys that can hit consistently for doubles, hits, anything. Just to minimize damage as much as possible." But Gonzalez also gave credit to his offense, which gave him a good amount of wiggle room. The Nationals trailed 2-1 after five innings. Most of the offense did not arrive until the sixth inning and beyond. It was his first win over the Braves since July 1, 2012. "The nine runs, five home runs," Gonzalez said. "That works more than anything. Just took three years to do it, huh? It's a great victory, all in all. We had great offense. Great defense. I would have never done it without my catcher. Wilson (Ramos) called a great game. Kept the guys off balance. "It's nice to see when your team is encouraging and pushing you to get better. Throughout the first two innings, it was an uphill battle trying to find my groove. Then (Ian Desmond), everyone walking up to me saying, 'Hey, let's go. Get out there and attack the strike zone. Get us back in here.'" Pitching coach Steve McCatty and teammate Doug Fister helped Gonzalez focus on keeping his pace up. McCatty noticed something that was slowing him down at some early stages. "I think (McCatty) helped me out with that, too. Sitting next to him a little bit and asking Dougie, 'How's my tempo?' Cat did a great job of pushing me, 'Hey let's go. Let's pick it up a little bit. Off-speed pitches you're slowing down.' It's nice to see when they're picking up and giving you a heads up." Nationals manager Matt Williams believed that Gonzalez was able to tighten up his fastball as the game wore on. That helped him control the tempo and allowed him to mix in his other pitches with the fastball finally established. "Last couple of innings he really turned it up with the fastball," Williams said. "He was feeling for it early, I think, for the first three innings, about 50 pitches. And feeling for the strike zone a little bit tonight. As he got through that, the last two innings, he really turned up the fastball and let her fly and his curveball's better, too." Right fielder Bryce Harper, the hottest of the hot Nats, hit two homers and had five RBI. He said they were impressed with Gonzalez's work against the Mets and Braves his past two starts. Gonzalez had gone seven innings in each of those outings, and had allowed a total of two runs. "Yeah, he's been great," Harper said. "He's fun to watch. He was up to 95 mph tonight, so that's a lot of fun to see. He's going strong, he's doing well out there. It's a lot of fun to watch. Hopefully, he can keep it going and we can keep getting W's."