Nationals 10, Padres 5: DC outbombs San Diego

Ian Kennedy had four really good innings today. And by "really good," I mean he went the first four innings of the afternoon without allowing a single hit. In those frames, he gave up a lone walk while striking out six. Even his fifth inning was looking pretty good. He gave up a leadoff triple to Bryce Harper followed by a Ryan Zimmerman single to put runners on the corners with nobody out, but he bounced back with a pair of harmless pop ups. But between the second out and the third out, Danny Espinosa hit a three-run homer.

That fifth was pretty rough, but on its own wouldn't have been so bad. The Padres offense had a solid day, with Justin Upton hitting a pair of homers and Jedd Gyorko adding his own pinch hit solo shot in the bottom of the ninth. A couple of small-ball runs gave the pitching staff a solid five runs to back them up. But the wheels came completely off in the sixth inning. Kennedy gave up three straight walks to start the inning. That was enough for Bud Black, who called on Frank Garces to face Bryce Harper. Harper hit a soft single to score one run. Okay, that's not so bad. Lefty specialist out, Dale Thayer in. Ryan Zimmerman's sacrifice fly scored another, and then Tyler Moore's two-run double would eventually make the difference in the game. But just for good measure, Bryce Harper hit a three-run bomb off Thayer in the seventh.

The Padres have now dipped one game under .500, but James Shields will try to rectify that Tuesday evening against the Cubs. First pitch at 7:10 PM.