Nats' lineup, 1 through 5, matching starting rotation for supremacy

DENVER - The Nationals were able to do something that manager Dusty Baker might not have thought was possible at the high-scoring happy confines of Coors Field: Score a ton of runs, but also keep the Rockies from having a big inning.

The Nationals stopped the Rockies 11-4, slamming three home runs. Trea Turner came within a triple of hitting for the cycle on consecutive nights.

The bullpen allowed only two runs over the final four innings. The 'pen had surrendered 12 runs in the first two games of the series.

Tanner Roark (3-0) walked four and allowed two runs over five innings and 104 pitches.

Turner finished 3-for-5 with a single, double and a homer, and two RBIs.

Bryce Harper went 4-for-4 with two runs, a double and RBI. Harper is hitting .432. He also appreciates what Turner has accomplished.

"That's just Trea. Locked in or not, that's what you're going to get," Harper said. "You can say how hot he is or locked in he is, but that's just Trea. That's normal Trea. I'm excited to watch him play."

Is he surprised that Turner was just one triple away from hitting for the cycle two nights in a row?

"I think he's going to have a lot of cycles in his career," Harper said. "That's just who he is and the type of player he is. He's got a chance to do that on any given night, and if he played here in Colorado I think he would do a lot more."

What is astounding about Turner's night is that it started off with a strikeout and then a groundout to the shortstop. Then he reeled off three consecutive hits.

"I think the first two at-bats I felt like crap, but I made the adjustments," Turner said. "That's how baseball is: at-bat to at-bat. Things click or don't click or whatever it is, you've got to be willing to make adjustments and I felt like I made adjustment in my third at-bat, and that's the adjustment I need to make, so we'll see tomorrow."

Batting fourth was Ryan Zimmerman, who went 3-for-5 as well, crushing a two-run shot and finishing with three RBIs. Zimmerman is batting .387.

The fifth-spot hitter was Daniel Murphy, who is hitting .330. All Murphy did was crush a three-run homer.

There are not many teams that have hitters 1 through 5 in the batting order that are as potent as the Nats offense is right now. The Nats have scored 26 runs in the past 18 innings of this series, pounding out 28 hits.

"It's just sustained pressure, I think, each at-bat," Murphy said. "Guys are having great at-bats. It's starting at the top, with the way Trea and Eaton are putting pressure on them, and Bryce and Zim didn't look like they took a single pitch off tonight. This is the kind of ballpark that if you can get traffic on the base paths, it seems like the holes open up. A great job by the offense."

Turner has nine RBIs in the past two games. Does it help having so many good hitters coming up right after him in the lineup?

"I would say easy and hard at the same time," Turner said. "Easy in the sense that you got that comfort, but sometimes you're pressured. You just want to get on base for them. You got to know the situation. People go up and down. You got to know the situation, know the pitchers. Just play it by ear."

But with hitters one through five in the lineup that match one through five in the starting pitching rotation, it's no wonder this team is 8-1 on this trip and 15-6 overall.

"Well, we have depth. We have power," said Baker. "Most of them are swinging pretty good right now. They get greedy. They smell kind of blood in the water and they jump on it. This is what we preach all the time. We have to be greedy and aggressive out there, but be smart. And we're running the bases well. Bryce the last couple days - three or four days - has really forced and caused some mistakes out there, which advances runners. Next thing you know, we've got two or three runs, and the fact that we're scoring early in the games is something we preach: Jump 'em early."

Most teams hope to go 5-5 on a grueling trip like the one the Nationals are one game away from completing. Amazingly enough, this team is 8-1 and now one win away from winning every series on the trip. Turner says these wins in April will play big when they need them in the season's waning months.

"It's great. That's what you want to do is win on the road," Turner said. "At home you're always going to have a pretty decent record, and you need to pick up every game on the road that you can, because down the stretch a game here and there, playoffs, wild cards, home field advantage, all that starts to play in, and these games count for that as well.

"You tend to forget about it at the end of the year, but a road trip of 8-2 or 9-1 would be huge, especially down the road."

The Nationals have Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Roark, Gio Gonzalez and Joe Ross.

The Nationals also have Adam Eaton, Turner, Harper, Zimmerman and Murphy.

One through five clicking for the Nationals.