Gio Gonzalez Continues Dominance as Nationals Beat Phillies 2-1

Gio Gonzalez helped his case as the NL Cy Young favorite on Monday night, fanning nine over six strong innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the 2-1 Washington Nationals victory, Gonzalez tossed 108 pitches (65 strikes) and allowed just seven baserunners—three hits, one hit by pitch and three walks—over his six innings of work.

With the victory, Gonzalez improves to 6-1 on the season and lowers his already minuscule ERA to 1.98.

He now holds the major league lead for strikeouts with 69, one better than Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers.

Craig Stammen pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Gonzalez until he gave way to closer Henry Rodriguez in the ninth.

Rodriguez allowed a run and recorded just one out in the ninth before being saved by Sean Burnett, who was successful in recording the save.

It was another difficult night on offense for the Nationals, who managed to score just two runs off of starter Kyle Kendrick.

All the offense came off the bat of Ian Desmond. He hit his seventh home run of the season in the second inning—a two-run shot—while also recording a single later in the contest. He is now hitting .280 on the season.

The only other National to record multiple hits was Bryce Harper, who tallied two singles and stole a base while upping his average to .256. He scored on Desmond's homer.

The Nationals are now 25-17 and still sit in second place in the NL East.