Gio Gonzalez left up 2-1 in the sixth. The game didn’t go well for the Nationals from there. Arizona scored four in the sixth, three in the eighth and three more in the ninth to pull away late in an 11-4 win in Nationals Park.
The loss was the fifth in six games for Washington (55-51), which has gone 7-12 since the All-Star break to fall two games behind the New York Mets in the National League East.
Gonzalez got a no-decision after giving up two runs on eight hits in five-plus innings, striking out seven and walking two.
It was the third straight start that saw Gonzalez go five innings or less, and the seventh time this season in 20 starts that he has failed to get past the five-inning mark in a game.
Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth each hit RBI sacrifice flies in a two-run Washington first, but the Nats didn’t get back on the board until the ninth, when Michael A. Taylor hit a two-run homer, his 10th of the season.
Aaron Barrett (3-3, 4.60 ERA) took the loss, giving up three runs on four hits in a third of an inning of relief.
Things got so out of hand for Washington that manager Matt Williams turned to outfielder Tyler Moore in the ninth to get the last two outs.
Moore retired Paul Goldschmidt, the leading hitter in the NL, who was 3-for-5 on the night to raise his batting average to .339, on a fielder’s choice, then after hitting Wellington Casillo with a pitch got Aaron Hill to line out to second to end the inning.
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