Roark baffles Brewers with commanding sinker in 7-3 win

MILWAUKEE - Nationals starter Tanner Roark has worked diligently the past two weeks to retool his mechanics on his sinking fastball.

When Roark's sinker is on, every other pitch is better. He calls it his "bread and butter" pitch. When Roark can use and command the two-seam and four-seam fastballs in heavy doses, the opponent has little chance to guess at when he will go off-speed.

It is an advantage that made Roark lethal in 2016 to the tune of 16 wins, and an advantage Roark has been searching for all this season as he scuffled through a long losing streak.

With the help of Brandon Kintzler and pitching coach Derek Lilliquist, Roark made an adjustment to build leverage on his sinker. It started against the Mets back on July 13.

On Wednesday afternoon, Roark (4-12) put it all together and struck out a season-high 11 in eight shutout innings, his most efficient start of the season, a 7-3 defeat of the Brewers.

"He was awesome," said Nationals manager Davey Martinez. "He really was. He attacked the zone. He was working quick. Threw strikes. Got quick outs."

One example of Roark's proficiency was his handling of the Brewers leadoff man Eric Thames - who ended up 0-for-4 with four strikeouts. The last punchout was a called third strike in the eighth inning.

In the sixth, the Brewers were down 7-0 but still had time to mount a rally. Following a one-out walk to Lorenzo Cain, the dangerous Christian Yelich stepped in with the game still within reach.

Yelich had gone 4-for-8 with a three-run triple and two-run homer in the first two games of the series. Roark battled and struck him out on a foul tip with a 1-2 two-seam fastball.

"Everything felt good," Roark said. "I just felt compact and, like, over the rubber. My head back and everything and (was) explosive."

Roark spoke yesterday about showcasing his fastball again. He did just that by establishing his fastball in the first inning. Nine of his 10 pitches were fastballs. The Brewers went down 1-2-3, including a strikeout of Thames to begin the game and set the tone.

"You've got to get a good feel for your fastball early and let them know you're going to throw it," Roark said. "Just mixed in four-seamers, two-seamers every now and then to keep them honest and attacking."

The Nats offense took advantage of an uneven performance by Brewers starter Freddy Peralta.

Twice the Nats tallied three runs on one hit - in the first and fifth frames.

In the first, they watched as Peralta walked two batters, hit Matt Adams with a pitch and uncorked a wild pitch. Daniel Murphy's two-run single put the Nats up 2-0. The wild pitch scored Juan Soto for a 3-0 lead.

It was the third game in the series in which the Nats scored first. This time their pitching held up, thanks in large part to Roark, who earned his first win since June 6, snapping a personal six-game skid. In his last loss, he allowed four runs on six hits in the first two innings against the Mets. But after that game, he said he felt like he had made progress. He held the Mets scoreless for three innings after the initial onslaught.

"I was just building off my last start," Roark said. "It's been nine days or something since I've been out there on the mound, but I just felt confident in general and was trusting my stuff to let it work."

In his last three starts at Miller Park, Roark has pitched 22 innings and allowed one earned run with 28 strikeouts.

"It's a confidence booster," Roark said. "I was building off my last outing and just feeling things, strong and compact on the rubber. I started trusting my stuff to let it work and not make it move."

Bryce Harper, blasted a line drive three-run shot to right field in the fifth, his 25th of the season, making it 6-0. The homer came a day after he battled a stomach bug and had to be scratched from the lineup.

"Felt OK. I think it's going to take a couple days, for sure," Harper said of his stomach ailment. "But happy to hit a three-run shot and help out the team today."

Soto added his 11th homer to lead off the sixth, boosting the Nats lead to 7-0.

The Brewers scored three runs in the ninth off of reliever Sammy Solís courtesy a Hernán Pérez home run. Kelvin Herrera recorded the last out to finish the game.

"The biggest thing is we're scoring first, which is nice," said Martinez. "We're scoring early. Continue to swing the bats. Take our walks. The biggest thing is taking our walks for this lineup. We have guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Just work good at-bats."

The Nats scored seven runs on four hits or fewer for the first time in franchise history.

The win salvaged the third game of the series in Milwaukee, and got the Nats back with one game of .500 (50-51).