Rendon, Roark guide Nats to rout of Braves

WASHINGTON — Anthony Rendon continued his hot hitting on Sunday with a home run and four RBIs to back seven strong innings from Tanner Roark in the Nationals’ 9-1 win over the Braves at Nationals Park.

With the victory, the Nationals still have a comfortable 8 1/2-game lead over the Marlins in the National League East. The Marlins edged the White Sox, 5-4, on Sunday.

To show how hot Rendon has been, since July 16, he is 27-for-84 (.318) with six homers and 21 RBIs. Rendon had a hand in Washington’s three-run first against right-hander Tyrell Jenkins. Rendon drove in one with a sacrifice fly, and added a three-run shot in a four-run fifth.

“Just finding holes. Balls are falling in. I feel like I’ve been squaring ball the entire year,” Rendon said.

• ‘Unbelievable’ hands helping Rendon rediscover stroke

Said Nationals manager Dusty Baker, “Anthony has been a good hitter all his life. So his timing is there. His hands are unbelieveable. He has some of the quickest hands, offensive and defensively. That’s what impressed me during Spring Training. He is the guy I told my son to watch. I told my son, ‘That’s your friend. Your hands. You watch Anthony Rendon, he uses his hands.'”

After the home run, Jenkins was done for the day. He lasted last 4 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs on six hits. His most glaring mistake was walking Roark to begin the fifth.

Roark left the mound to a standing ovation in earning his 13th win. Once he left, Oliver Perez and Matt Belisle blanked the Braves, who split a 10-game road trip, despite losing four of the final five games. Roark allowed one run, going at least seven innings for the 15th time in 24 starts this season.

Bryce Harper returned after missing five games with a stiff neck and had an RBI double in his first at-bat.

“You can’t go out and give free passes to these guys,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s a really good offensive club. You’ve got to make them earn everything they get. You can’t put extra guys on base or it will bite you and it did. You just have to stay on the attack and go after hitters. When you start putting them on, you’re just asking for trouble.”

• Braves’ encouraging trip ends on sour note

MOMENTS THAT MATTEREDHarper returns: Harper played his first game …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com