Zimmerman homers, but Roark and Nats come up short

The Angels had one more big hit than the Nationals did on Wednesday, and that was enough to take away a 3-2 getaway day win.

Ryan Zimmerman smacked a two-run shot to set the tone for the Nats early, but that was all the offense they could muster as Ricky Nolasco pitched 5 2/3 innings and three relievers held the Nats to four hits and no runs the rest of the way.

Even with the loss, the Nats ended up winning two out of three series for the homestand. Zimmerman likes that and said Nolasco certainly deserves some credit for being pretty good in keeping the Nats off the scoreboard.

"Not too bad at all," Zimmerman said. "I think we had some chances today early to put some more runs on there and I think that was kind of the difference in the game, but Ricky has been pitching in this league for a long time, so he knows how to pitch and how to get out of jams, and he made pitches when he needed to. But, yeah, with the kind of the injuries that we are dealing with and everything that has gone on, I think 6-3 is not too bad."

Tanner Roark allowed three runs on four hits over seven innings, but the Angels connected on a pair of homers - a two-run shot by Kole Calhoun in the sixth was the big blow - and that spelled the difference.

"Good. Felt really good. Curveball was really working today," Roark said. "You know, I felt like all pitches were working well today."

Down 3-2, the Nats' best chance for a rally arrived in the eighth. Zimmerman singled with one out. Adam Lind reached on a fielding error by first baseman C.J. Cron. But second baseman Kaleb Cowart retrieved the ball and fired across the diamond to nab Zimmerman at third base, all but killing a golden opportunity.

"That was a heads-up play and (Zimmerman) saw the ball rolling and took off, but the grass is thick with all the rain we've had, and the ball stopped," manager Dusty Baker said. "Had the ball kept rolling another foot or six inches, he'd have been in there. That was an outstanding read and great effort. Like you said, he threw the ball right on his head.

"The ball wasn't high or wide or anything. That could have saved us with Anthony Rendon coming up next, so that was a heads-up play by the second baseman."

Zimmerman saw the play unfold and felt he had a good shot at making it to third to put runners on the corners with one out.

"The last time I peeked, I saw the ball was still away from him, I kind of thought the ball was still rolling and I guess it wasn't," Zimmerman said. "But he still picked it up and his back was to third and turned around and made a good throw. If the throw is off line at all I think, I'm safe. I think it was worth the risk. If you get to third right there with one out it completely changes the inning. You know, first and second one out isn't a terrible thing, but you know trying to get to third there didn't work out, but I can live with it."

Roark took the hard-luck loss, but still has appeared to get back to the consistency he displayed last season when he went 16-10. With all the wins this team has put together this season, he understands that every once and awhile the club will come up one hit short.

"Our schedule so far has been grueling and then we have a super hot day. Humidity is out there," Roark said. "It is a long season. Guys are out here grinding and you know working hard to stay healthy and get back in it, so it was one of those games where it turned out to be a pitchers' duel and we ended up on the bottom of that. We got a big road trip coming up, so go after that."