The Nationals blasted three more home runs to account for all their scoring behind Gio Gonzalez, earning a 5-1 victory over the New York Mets in the first of a six-game road trip. Coupled with the Atlanta Braves 4-1 loss in Milwaukee, the Nationals extended their lead in the National League East to 6 1./2 games and moved three full games ahead of the Reds for the best record in the NL.

Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Zimmerman and Ian Desmond all went yard for Washington, which picked up where it left off last week from a long-ball standpoint, Sunday’s shutout at the hands of the Miami Marlins notwithstanding. Gonzalez (19-7) took advantage of the run support, surrendering just one run on three hits over his six innings to become the first pitcher in the majors this season to pick up his 19th win. It was the fourth loss in a row for the Mets, who were coming off a sweep at the hands of the Braves.

Gonzalez did scatter five walks amongst his three hits allowed, but nevertheless was rarely in trouble. Thanks to his teammates and their big bats, the lefty tightroped through without a hitch, allowing only a solo home run to Scott Hairston leading off the fourth inning. By that time though, the Nationals had done their damage.

Ian Desmond went oppo-boppo for his 22nd bomb of the year Monday night. (Image: Anthony Gruppuso, US Presswire)

Suzuki was the first to clear the Citi Field fence, but probably shouldn’t have had the opportunity. Earlier in his third-inning at-bat against Mets rookie starter Collin McHugh (0-2), Suzuki hit a pop up straight behind the pate that New York catcher Kelly Shoppach dropped for an error. Given a second chance, Suzuki clobbered a home run to left to open the scoring and continue his recent power surge since coming to the Nationals from Oakland.

Later in the inning, Ryan Zimmerman extended the Nationals lead, jumping on a McHugh curveball and hammering it out to dead center, scoring Bryce Harper and giving Washington a 3-0 advantage. Making only his third career start, McHugh might have deserved better, as all three third-inning runs were unearned thanks to the Shoppach miscue.

Ian Desmond joined the party one inning later, going the opposite way for his 22nd homer of the year, a two-run shot that plated Michael Morse and upped the Nats lead to 5-0. Three Mets pitchers combined to hold the Nats hitless for the remainder of the game, but Gonzalez and a trio of Washington relievers made sure the Mets never got any closer.

Champ of the Game: Gio Gonzalez. Not his sharpest outing, but certainly enough to tame the scuffling Mets, who haven’t plated more than one run in an inning at Citi Field in their last 106 frames. In his first start as the Nationals new No. 1 starter, after the Stephen Strasburg shutdown, Gonzalez did plenty well enough to keep the title. For the Mets, Scott Hairston’s homer provided all the offense.

Chump of the Game: No one stood out for Washington, so Danny Espinosa loses the coin toss. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. For New York, Jason Bay went 0-for-4 and struck out once.

Next Game: The Nats and Mets square off in the middle game of the series at 7:10 ET at Citi Field on Tuesday night. A stellar pitching match-up awaits, as Washington sends Jordan Zimmermann (10-8, 2.99 ERA) against Mets Cy Young hopeful R.A. Dickey (18-4, 2.64).

Jonathon Niese gave the New York Mets something special Saturday night, pitching the Mets to a 2-0 win over the Nationals in the second of a three-game weekend series at Nationals Park.

Ike Davis smacked a two-run homer to account for all the scoring in the game, which was a classic pitchers’ duel between Niese (10-6) and Washington’s Edwin Jackson. Aside from the two runs that scored, only two other men reached third base all night, and the pitching staffs combined for 23 strikeouts.

The Nationals remained four games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East, as the Braves fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 Saturday.

Edwin Jackson threw seven strong innings Saturday, but was undone by one pitch. (Image: Brad Mills, US Presswire)

Washington’s best chance to score came in the first inning, as Danny Espinosa ripped a one-out single down the third-base line and Ryan Zimmerman followed with a single to right. A deep fly ball from Michael Morse advanced Espinosa to third, which opened up second base for Zimmerman to swipe. But Adam LaRoche grounded out to end the threat.

Jackson had also pitched out of trouble in the first inning, as he stranded a one-out triple by Mike Baxter. From there, it was some of the veteran’s best work, as he didn’t allow another hit until Davis’s home run in the seventh. Jackson (7-8) struck out a season-high 11 batters in his seven innings of work and had to be sharp because Niese was matching him inning by inning.

Five of Niese’s seven strikeouts were called as the Nationals had trouble with the late movement on Niese’s cut fastball. He gave up a double to LaRoche in the fourth, a single to Jesus Flores in the fifth, and a leadoff single to Espinosa in the sixth, but each time worked his way out of trouble unscathed.

Jackson’s strongest inning was the sixth, in which he struck out the side. But things turned sour in the seventh, as Jackson lost David Wright leading off the inning and issued the game’s only free pass. Davis, who has the most road round-trippers in the National League, then drove a fastball over the wall the opposite way, breaking the shutout and giving Niese and the Mets all the offense they would need.

Washington nearly got a late-game rally  started in the ninth against Mets closer Frank Francisco. Zimmerman led off the inning with a line drive into the right-field corner that was ticketed for extra bases, but Baxter was playing deep and tracked the ball down on the warning track. The Nationals went quietly from there against Francisco, who picked up his 20th save.

Champ of the Game: Jonathon Niese. The up-and-down lefty was certainly up, sending a great crowd of 42,662 Nationals fans home disappointed. Niese threw 7 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and no walks to go along with his seven strikeouts. For the Nationals, Jackson was actually having a slightly better game on the mound through the first six innings and deserved better. He surrendered just two hits and a walk over his seven innings of work.

Chump of the Game: Michael Morse. The Beast’s hitting streak ended ignominiously at an unlucky 13 games with a 0-for-4 performance, including a pair of called third strikes. For the Mets, Andres Torres also posted three strikeouts, all against Jackson, and never got up a fourth time to try to break his duck on the night.

Next Game: The Mets and Nats square off again in the rubber game of the series at 1:35 ET Sunday at Nationals Park. Jeremy Hefner (2-4, 4.76 ERA) will start for the Mets, officially giving New York a six-man starting rotation. Gio Gonzalez (15-6, 3.29) will aim to set a Nationals single-season record for wins.

Five days removed from a shaky start that prompted light criticism from Nationals manager Davey Johnson, Strasburg bounced back with a gem, striking out 11 New York Mets over seven innings to power Washington to a 5-2 win over New York Wednesday afternoon, completing a three-game sweep of the Mets at Citi Field. The Nationals remained 4 1/2 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the National League East and, for at least a short time, found themselves tied with the New York Yankees for the best record in baseball.

The Nationals hit three home runs in support of Strasburg (11-4), who allowed one run on just four hits and did not walk a batter. It was a marked contrast from his last start against Atlanta on July 20, when Strasburg, after having been handed a 9-0 lead, labored late and couldn’t get out of the sixth inning, setting the stage for a remarkable Atlanta comeback.

Johnson’s postgame remarks that night didn’t spare his young ace, saying, “He really doesn’t know who he is at times. He doesn’t trust his stuff.”

His stuff on Wednesday was excellent.

Stephen Strasburg bounced back nicely, striking out 11 Mets in seven innings in the Nationals 5-2 win Wednesday. (Image: Debby Wong, US Presswire)

Strasburg, according to Nats Insider Mark Zuckerman, upped his percentage of fastballs thrown from an average of 62 to 71 percent against the Mets, and he had command of it from the beginning, picking up a three-pitch punchout of Ruben Tejada to start the day. In all, the 24-year-old threw 63 of his 94 pitches for strikes, an encouraging departure from some of his recent starts where his control seemed to come and go.

Despite giving up a home run to Ike Davis, Strasburg exuded dominance. Another three-pitch K of Andres Torres leading off the third inning started a stretch of five straight strikeouts for the Mets, and Strasburg was able to fan David Wright, who has been hammering Nationals pitching lately, three times.

Meanwhile, the Washington offense revolved around the long ball. Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa hit back-to-back home runs to right field in the second inning off Mets starter Jeremy Hefner (1-4). Espinosa was in the middle of the Nationals third run as well, in the fourth, after dropping a one-out double into left field and moving to third on a single by Roger Bernadina. Sandy Leon then hit a soft grounder to Davis at first, but Mets catcher Josh Thole dropped the throw at the plate, allowing Espinosa to score.

Adam LaRoche continued to hurt the Mets with a long two-run homer in the seventh off lefty Tim Byrdak to give the Nationals a 5-1 cushion, although things did get interesting in the eighth.

Johnson summoned under-fire reliever Henry Rodriguez to start the eighth in relief of Strasburg, but it was evident that the leash on the fireballer was going to be short. After walking the first two batters he faced, Rodriguez got the hook from Johnson, who then channeled his inner Tony LaRussa by going to three more relievers to get through the inning. Craig Stammen, Sean Burnett and Drew Storen managed to wriggle off the hook with only one run coming across, Storen’s the biggest out as he got Wright to bounce out to third to end the threat. Tyler Clippard closed the game out to record his 18th save.

Champ of the Game: Stephen Strasburg. This was the outing people expect from Strasburg. He had at least one strikeout in every inning but the second and established himself as the major-league leader in Ks with 151. For the Mets, Ike Davis homered against Strasburg and managed to avoid fanning, so he gets the nod.

Chump of the Game: Henry Rodriguez. Three strikes in 11 pitches is not going to cut it for a reliever that has been the only weak link in Washington’s bullpen this year. Despite Johnson’s insistence that he would use Rodriguez again and be confident about it, at some point the reality of a pennant race might catch up to the optimism that Rodriguez can get it together. For New York, Wright’s hat trick of Ks against Strasburg wasn’t pretty, but grounding out against Storen as the tying run in the eighth was his biggest failure of the day. It isn’t often Wright ends up here, so we have to embrace it on the rare occasions it happens.

Next Game: Thursday night, 8:10 ET against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. The teams meet for the first time this season, with Edwin Jackson (5-6, 3.73 ERA) looking to extend Washington’s win streak to six games against Milwaukee’s Yovani Gallardo (8-7. 3.72).