NL Scores: Harper Leads Nats, Pirates, McDonald Beat Braves

Nats NewsBryce Harper hit two home runs, including a tiebreaking drive in the eighth inning, and also doubled Saturday to lead the Washington Nationals over the New York Mets 7-6. The 20-year-old All-Star has four multihomer games in not quite a full year in the majors. Harper walked in his other plate appearance and is hitting .371 this season.

Gio Gonzalez  lasted only four innings giving up five earned runs on 90 pitches for Washington, but the Nats bullpen was  able to keep the game close the rest of the way. Rafael Soriano picked up his sixth save of the season. Adam LaRoche and Ian Desmond homered for the Nationals.

 More National League Scores

Pittsburgh 3 Atlanta 1  James McDonald turned in six solid innings, striking out nine, allowing one earned run and Gaby Sanchez hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the sixth inning to hand Atlanta, which has the best record in the major leagues, consecutive losses for the first this season.

 St. Louis 5 Philadelphia 0 Lance Lynn threw one-hit ball for seven innings and Carlos Beltran homered for the third straight game to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Cliff Lee Allowed five earned runs in five innings of work to take the loss for Philadelphia. Carlos Beltran hit his fourth home run of the season for St. Louis.

Cincinnati 3 Miami 2 Brandon Phillips drove in the game-winning run in the 13th inning as the Reds beat the Marlins 3-2. Joey Votto had four hits, including his first home run in Cincinnati in almost 10 months, as the Reds picked up their major-league leading ninth home win and fifth victory in their last six games since a five-game losing streak.

Milwaukee 5 Chicago 1 Hiran Burgos  made his major-league debut allowing one earned run in five innings of work and Jonathan Lucroy homered to back him and help the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.

Colorado 4 Arizona 3 Jorge Del La Rosa pitched six innings of two-hit ball, Michael Cuddyer homered and the Colorado Rockies won their season-high eighth in a row by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3. De La Rosa struck out four and walked two and didn’t allow a run in a second consecutive six-inning outing as the Rockies ran their home record to 8-0. Colorado is the only team in the majors without a loss at home.

San Francisco 2 San Diego 0 Tim Lincecum‘s eight strikeouts over 6 2/3 scoreless innings pitched and Pablo Sandoval‘s two-run homer lift the Giants to a 2-0 win over the Padres.