The first four pitches tonight from Houston's right-handed starter Brandon Backe are balls as Washington's leadoff hitter, and center fielder tonight, Willie Harris takes a walk. Cristian Guzman grounds weakly to second but hustles to beat out the back end of a DP. Backe gets up 0-2 on Ryan Zimmerman, and then gets him swinging out an outside curve. Nick Johnson hits a two-out double off the wall in right center scoring Guzman from first for an early 1-0 DC lead...Nationals' lefty John Lannan returns the favor with a four pitch walk to Michael Bourn to lead off the Astros' first. Bourn runs as Kaz Matsui goes down swinging, but the throw from Wil Nieves' bounces off Ronnie Belliard. Miguel Tejada flies out to center. Lance Berkman and his .361 average are up, but he grounds a low fastball to first to end the inning. 

Today's DC LF Rob Mackowiak hits a one-out liner to short center for a single. Wil Nieves grounds into an inning ending DP, Tejada to Matsui to big Berkman at first. "El Caballo" Carlos Lee ricochets a grounder off Lannan's leg, into Guzman's glove and over to first. Lannan gets Hunter Pence swinging. Ty Wiggington hits a two-out double to left, but a ground ball out from catcher J.R. Towles ends a scoreless second. 

Willie Harris makes the most of the rare start, jumping on a high hanger and going deep off Backe for a one-out solo shot to right in the third. 2-0 Nationals after two and a half. John Lannan gets Backe, Bourn and Matsui in order for his third scoreless. The Discerning Eye of Nick Johnson earns him a one-out walk to start the fourth. Kearns swings his way back to the dugout. Two pitches on the outside edge fell Belliard. Rob Mackowiak watches strike three all the way into Towles' glove...

...Miguel Tejada beats Nick Johnson to the line with a sharp single to start Houston's fourth. Ryan Zimmerman dives for a Berkman blast in the hole, but Zimmerman has it go off the glove. Two on, no outs for El Caballo...Carlos Lee backs Willie Harris up to the bottom of Tal's Hill, advancing both runners. Hunter Pence beats out a ground ball to short, when Guzman hesitates with the throw to first...Tejada scores. 2-1 Nationals after four. 

Backe strikes out two of the three batters he faces in the fifth to bring his total to nine for the game, and then Backe singles off Lannan to start the Astros' fifth. Bourn goes down swinging. Kaz Matsui grounds to third for the second out. Miguel Tejada grounds back to the mound. 2-1 Nationals after five. 

Cristian Guzman smacks a high fastball through second for a leadoff single in the sixth. Ryan Zimmerman lines a single to center, and Guzman hustles to third. The Discerning Eye of Nick Johnson earns a walk to load the bases. Austin Kearns sends a rainbow over second and into short right for a two-run single. 4-1 Nationals...John Lannan allows two singles to Berkman and El Caballo, but gets a DP grounder from Pence and a final out from Wiggington to end the sixth with the lead. 

Astros' reliever Tim Byrdak gives up a leadoff double to Aaron Boone in the seventh, but gets Willie Harris to ground out and Guzman to ground into an inning-ending DP to bring Houston up in the seventh. Saul "Sa-ool" Rivera takes over for Lannan (6.0 IP, 7 hits, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K's) giving up a two-out single and a stolen base to Michael Bourn, but retiring the Astros without giving up a run. 4-1 DC after seven. 

Ryan Zimmerman scores on a wild pitch from Oscar Villareal, after Zimmerman singles, moves to second on a throwing error, and over to third on a ground out, 5-1 Nationals. Rob Mackowiak makes Manny Acta look smart for the second time tonight, homering to left off Villareal for a two-run blast that plates Kearns for a 7-1 Nationals' lead. The Astros add two off Luis Ayala in the eigth, on an RBI single from Carlos Lee, and a ground ball out from Wiggington. 7-3 DC. Cristian Guzman scores on a double play grounder in the top of the ninth to make it 8-3 DC, and the Tallest Pitcher in MLB History Jon Rauch comes on in the eigth to retire the Astros in order and salvage one win of the three games in Houston. Nationals win. 8-3 final. 

Nationals now 15-20.