Washington Nationals drop 8-0 decision to Milwaukee Brewers: Zach Davies dominates Nats in series opener...

Edwin Jackson wasn’t nearly as sharp tonight as he was in Anaheim, CA last week. E-Jax gave up seven hits, three walks, three home runs, and seven runs total (3 ER), throwing 112 pitches in what ended up an 8-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Zach Davies held the Nationals in check over 7 ²⁄₃ scoreless, efficient innings of work in Washington, D.C., giving up three hits and three walks in his longest start of the season.

Milwaukee started the night with an NL-leading 148 homers and added to that total with the three blasts off Jackson, one each by Travis Shaw, Eric Thames, and Manny Pina, after the Brewers took a 2-0 lead on a sac bunt with a runner on third by Davies in the second, and an RBI infield single by Ryan Braun in the fourth.

The Brewers went on to win the series opener, 8-0.

Nationals now 59-39

HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED:

• After he’d worked around back-to-back, two-out walks in the first, Manny Pina and Brett Phillips hit back-to-back singles off Edwin Jackson to start the Brewers’ half of the second, and Pina scored from third on a bunt one out later, beating a late throw home by E-Jax, who probably should have gone to first for the out, 1-0 Milwaukee.

• Orlando Arcia singled with one down in the fourth, and took third on a throwing error by Ryan Zimmerman on a bunt by Brewers’ righty Zach Davies, when Zimmerman threw behind the covering Daniel Murphy at first base. Arcia took third on the E:3, and scored on a two-out, infield single by Ryan Braun, 2-0.

Travis Shaw followed with a three-run home run into the Red Porch seats on a 1-2 fastball from Jackson to put the Brewers up 5-0 after three and a half.

• Eric Thames absolutely demolished a 1-1 slider from Jackson in the fifth, hitting a no-doubter of a homer off the facade of the third deck in right field. No. 24 of 2017 for Thames. 6-0 Brewers. Manny Pina followed with a second straight solo shot, on a 3-1 fastball, 7-0.

• Edwin Jackson’s Line: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 Ks, 3 HRs, 112 P, 69 S, 6/6 GO/FO.

• Brewers’ starter Zach Davies held the Nationals to three hits through five scoreless, throwing just 66 pitches.

• Oliver Perez took over for the Nats in the sixth, and threw a 10-pitch, 1-2-3 frame. Perez hit Thames and walked Pina with one down in the seventh, but stranded both runners at the end of his second scoreless inning of work.

• Joe Blanton gave up a one-out walk to Eric Sogard, and back-to-back, two-out singles by Travis Shaw and Domingo Santana, whose blooper to right drove Sogard in for an 8-0 lead.

• Zach Davies struck out the first two batters he faced in the eighth, both looking, but a two-out walk, on his 114th pitch, ended the right-hander’s night.

• Zach Davies’ Line: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 Ks, 114 P, 71 S, 8/8 GO/FO.

• Bryce Harper extended his hitting streak to 17-straight with a two-out double off Oliver Drake in the Nats’ half of the eighth, but he was stranded at the end of the inning.

• Joe Blanton worked around back-to-back singles that started the ninth, and

NATIONALS PREGAME NOTES:

• Washington started this week’s three-game series trailing 40-42 in the all-time series with Milwaukee.
• Washington’s 7-2 record on the recently-completed road trip with a 33-19 record on the road this season, the NL’s best mark.
• Tonight’s game was Milwaukee’s eighth on a 10-game road trip, and they were 1-6 on the trip heading into the final stop in D.C.
• Both Washington and Milwaukee started the night leading their respective divisions, the Nationals by 12.5 games and the Brewers by 0.5.
• At home in Nationals Park, the Nats are 26-19 this season, one of only four teams in the NL that has yet to lose their 20th game at home in 2017.
• Bryce Harper started the night with a 16-game hitting streak going, over which he’s gone 28 for 64 (.438 AVG), and the 24-year-old outfielder had a 24-game on-base streak going.
• Anthony Rendon started the night leading the NL in fWAR (4.9), which was third-highest in the majors, behind only the Yankees’ Aaron Judge (5.4), and Astros’ Jose Altuve (5.5).
• Washington’s offense started the night leading the NL in AVG (.278), OBP (.344), SLG (.473), and extra-base hits (360), and they were ranked second in runs scored (540, and hits (946).

Nationals now 59-39