Jun 26, 2016; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Washington Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark (57) pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Photo Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
MILWAUKEE — Tanner Roark threw seven shutout innings while Jose Lobaton and Clint Robinson homered as the Washington Nationals snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon at Miller Park.
Roark (7-5) held Milwaukee to seven hits and a walk while striking out seven to pick up a victory for the third time in his last four starts.
He had little to show for his work early on as the Nationals managed just one hit off Brewers starter Jimmy Nelson, who only lasted five innings in large part because of five walks.
Three of those came with two outs in the fifth. Roark drew his second of the game and Ben Revere followed with a four-pitch free pass to bring up Werth, who worked the count full before loading the bases.
Nelson escaped the inning when Bryce Harper flew out to the base of the wall in center, thwarting the Nationals’ best chance of the day.
Aaron Hill led off the bottom of the inning with a double and Brewers manager Craig Counsell opted to pinch-hit for Nelson, who’d thrown 91 pitches.
Anthony Rendon broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the sixth off Jacob Barnes (0-1), who also allowed Lobaton’s home run — his first of the season — to open the seventh.
Robinson made it a 3-0 game with a two-run shot in the eighth off Michael Blazek.
Milwaukee broke the shutout in the eighth when Ryan Braun tripled and scored on a Jonathan Lucroy ground out.
Shawn Kelley allowed a two-out, pinch-hit home run to Martin Maldonado and put the tying run at third on a Jonathan Villar triple but popped up Scooter Gennett to end it and notch his third save of the year.
NOTES: The Nationals placed RHP Stephen Strasburg on the 15-day disabled list Sunday with a strained upper back — the same injury that scratched him from his last start. He was originally slated to return to action Sunday but was scratched Saturday after tweaking his back during pregame workouts. The move is retroactive to June 16. A corresponding roster move to replace Strasburg on the roster will be announced later. … Milwaukee took the first two games of the three-game series and was looking for its first sweep of the Nationals since May 23-25, 2011. … The Brewers’ current four-game home winning streak is their longest of the season. … Washington came into the game having lost seven in a row. It’s the Nationals’ longest losing streak of the season and their longest since dropping seven in a row from May 15-20, 2009. Despite that, Washington began the day with the third-best record in the National League.
