Of course, it doesn’t hurt to knock the ball out of the park occasionally, either. Ryan Zimmerman obliged with his first home run since May 17, a seventh-inning blast into the left-field seats. That was the extra run Washington needed. But it was also their only extra-base hit.

Everything else was manufactured. The Nats stole a base. They started runners early and moved them over when needed. And if they were too aggressive at times — Lastings Milledge strayed too far from third base on a grounder to Dodgers pitcher Greg Maddux in the fifth inning and was caught in a lengthy rundown — it showed a spark Washington has often lacked this season.

“We always preach aggressiveness as long as it is smart aggressiveness and if you do have the players to do it,” said Nats manager Manny Acta. “We’re not holding anybody back. We just want to be smart on the bases.”

Trailing 1-0 in the second, the Nats tied the game with little more than an infield hit by Milledge. He stole second base, moved to third on a Ronnie Belliard ground out and scored on a ground out by Jesus Flores.

The Nats then pushed two more runs across without benefit of an extra-base hit. Singles by Willie Harris and Cristian Guzman were followed by fielder’s choice grounders from Zimmerman and Milledge. The latter was good for an RBI. Belliard then laced an RBI hit up the middle to make it 3-2.

The Nats weren’t finished. In the fourth, Emilio Bonifacio singled and was sacrificed to second. On the ensuing hit-and-run, Dodgers second baseman Jeff Kent botched a grounder and hesitated. So Bonifacio tore around third and scored the Nats’ fourth run.

“It’s nice that we can utilize speed to our advantage,” Acta said.

The Dodgers weren’t following the small-ball plan, however, making their swings count against Nats starter Tim Redding (9-8, 4.54 ERA). Six of the eight hits he allowed went for extra bases, including home runs by Andre Ethier, James Loney and Casey Blake. But the damage was limited because all three homers came with no one on base.

Redding went six innings, allowed three earned runs and his lone walk was intentional. Neither he nor Maddux (6-11, 4.22 ERA) struck out a batter in a combined 11 1/3 innings.

“I just felt like it was one of those days where I battled and didn’t have my best stuff,” said Redding, who ditched his normal routine of four-seam fastballs in favor of two-seamers that rode in on Dodgers hitters and produced a number of pop outs. “The three home runs I gave up were on breaking balls so I was a little reluctant to go back to those pitches.”

Maddux, a 353-game winner, looked better than he did in his first start with Los Angeles (65-68) after an Aug. 19 trade from San Diego. That night he gave up seven runs in just 5 2/3 innings. Wednesday he allowed four runs, only two earned, but failed to take advantage of an aggressive group of young Nats hitters.

“[Maddux] is good at what he does. He never gives in, 3-1 or 2-0 doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get a fastball,” Zimmerman said. “That’s what makes him so good. But we’ve also done a good job being patient against those kind of pitchers.”

Yet even after Maddux was knocked out of the game in the sixth and Zimmerman’s solo shot put Washington up 5-3 the game was far from over. With two down in the eighth, Blake smacked an RBI single off Nats reliever Saul Rivera, who then walked pinch hitter Mark Sweeney to load the bases. Acta brought in closer Joel Hanrahan, who struggled before earning the save Tuesday night.

He had no such problems this time, inducing a fly out on a sinker to Matt Kemp. Hanrahan did allow a single to Dodgers star Manny Ramirez with two outs in the ninth, but then got Loney to pop out to left to earn his sixth save.

“You can’t let them beat you. You go out there and do your best to beat them,” Hanrahan said. “It’s a situation where you’ve got to attack them. Once the ball leaves your hand it’s out of your control. I was fortunate to get it done.”

Nats notes


Prospect Esmailyn Gonzalez, an 18-year-old shortstop, clinched the Gulf Coast League batting title on Wednesday afternoon. A high-profile signing from the Dominican Republic in July 2006, Gonzalez finished his second pro season with a .350 batting average (62-for-177) and a .436 on-base percentage. He added 12 doubles, three triples and two home runs along with 33 RBI and 23 walks. Gonzalez signed for a $1.4 million bonus at age 16. 

“He was able to be healthy this year and he came in shape and worked really hard. He’s just come a long way in a short bit of time,” said Nats general manager Jim Bowden. “Next year we expect him to continue to progress. I think he’ll skip [short-season] Vermont and go right to [low-A] Hagerstown.”