Nationals' quick starts have fueled strong road trip (plus minors notes)

Sunday morning feels good to the Nationals, who have a chance to make it a very good road trip with a win today. The Nationals have taken two out of three in Arizona and now in San Diego, thanks to Saturday's 4-1 Max Scherzer special.

Scherzer struck out 11 to get above .500. The Nationals have now climbed to within a half-game of the National League East-leading Mets, who led the division by eight games in late April. A victory today would also put the Nationals a season-high five games above .500 and give them an above-.500 mark on the road.

The Nationals have won 14 of their last 18 games.

On Sunday, the Nationals seek their sixth consecutive series win. They are 4-2 on this current road trip. They had won only one of their first six series to begin the season when they were 7-13.

The Nationals have four players hitting above .300: Denard Span (.333), Yunel Escobar (.328), Bryce Harper (.326) and Wilson Ramos (.314).

Ramos is also riding an 18-game hitting streak, currently the longest in the majors.

Harper bunted for one of his base hits last night and has 20 hits in May, hitting .385 (20-for-52) with eight home runs and 18 RBIs.

Ryan Zimmerman went 0-for-4 last night, ending his hitting streak t nine games.

The Nationals pitching staff has allowed only 21 homers so far this season, best in the majors.

Saturday marked the second game in a row the Nationals struck early to set the tone. Scoring three in the first, they cruised to a 4-1 win. On Friday night, the Nationals tallied four runs in the first inning en route to a 10-0 victory. In Friday's shutout, the Nationals were up 7-0 after three innings.

When the current road trip began on May 11, the Nationals dropped 10 runs on the Diamondbacks before the third inning commenced. They won that game 11-1.

The schedule will provide a couple of days off this week, Monday and Thursday. In between, the Nats play two home games against the Yankees. Then next weekend, three versus the Phillies at Nationals Park. This will help give starter Doug Fister more time to heal from his flexor injury. Manager Matt Williams seemed to be encouraged regarding an injury update on the starter. A.J. Cole will have another week to gain experience out of the bullpen and the rotation will remain on five days' rest thanks to this week's two off-days.

Down on the farm: Kevin Keyes launched a sixth-inning grand slam, but Double-A Harrisburg fell to Trenton 5-4. Triple-A Syracuse was edged by Charlotte 2-1. Emmanuel Burriss broke up a no-hit bid by Kyle Drabek with a single and scored a run in the sixth. High Single-A Potomac defeated Frederick 5-2 in the nightcap of a doubleheader on six scoreless innings by right-hander Dakota Bacus. Low Single-A Hagerstown fell to West Virginia 7-6 in 12 innings after coming back in the eight and ninth frames. Brennan Middleton had a RBI single to cut the Power lead to 7-6, but the Suns were unable to complete their third comeback of the game.

Right-hander Reynaldo Lopez starts today for Potomac today at Frederick. He has not allowed an earned run in winning his first two starts.

Scheduling alert: I will be co-hosting "Nats Xtra" again today alongside Ray Knight as right-hander Stephen Strasburg looks to bounce back with a win in his hometown of San Diego. Pregame coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. on MASN2. This will mark Strasburg's second start in his home city dating to May 16, 2013, a 6-2 win. He went eight innings in that game and allowed only one earned run.