Gio Gonzalez goes 7 strong, Nationals use long ball to beat Phillies 5-1

PHILADELPHIA — Gio Gonzalez is now getting results to match his fine performances.

Gonzalez tossed seven sharp innings, the Nationals hit a pair of consecutive homers off Cliff Lee and Washington beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 Wednesday night.

Anthony Rendon and Wilson Ramos hit back-to-back shots off Lee to start the fifth and Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth did it to open the sixth.

Gonzalez (7-3) gave up one run and six hits, striking out five to win his fourth straight start. The lefty has eight quality starts in a row.

"I got in a couple jams against a good-hitting team, but the defense came through with some double plays," Gonzalez said.

Before his winning streak began on June 25, Gonzalez had been winless in eight previous starts despite posting a 2.18 ERA in that span.

He hasn't changed anything. Only now, the Ws are piling up like last year when Gonzalez was 21-8.

Lee (10-3) had allowed nine homers in his first 135 2-3 innings this year before yielding four in a span of eight batters.

"All four I felt were good pitches," Lee said. "When it's hot here, the ball carries. I got to do a better job inducing ground balls."

Darin Ruf hit a solo shot for the Phillies, who failed to reach .500 for the first time since June 7.

Lee allowed four runs and nine hits in seven innings. The All-Star lefty gave up multiple homers in a game once before this season in a 4-2 win over Washington on June 18.

"He throws a lot of strikes so you have to be aggressive early," Ramos said. "He throws strikes so you don't have to wait for one pitch to hit."

"Sometimes when he's like that, nobody hits him," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "His stuff was good. They got four balls airborne and they went out of the yard."

The defending NL East champion Nationals, who moved within five games of first-place Atlanta, lost the first two of this four-game set against Philadelphia. The Phillies are 2½ behind Washington.

Rendon lined an 0-2 pitch to left to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the fifth. The ball struck a man in the face. He was standing in the front row and tried to make a barehanded catch. There was no immediate word on whether he was injured.

Ramos followed with an opposite-field shot to right.

Zimmerman connected on an 0-2 pitch in the sixth, hitting a towering drive to left-center. Werth followed with a shot to left.

Ruf hit an opposite-field drive to right with two outs in the seventh for his first with the Phillies this season. Ruf had 38 homers at Double-A Reading last year and three more in a brief stint in Philadelphia.