Washington Nationals rally late and beat Milwaukee Brewers, 8-5 in the nation’s capital...

Washington’s scoreless innings streak was up to seventeen-straight, going back to the last two innings of the series finale in Arizona before Daniel Murphy hit a solo shot to right field off Milwaukee Brewers’ righty Jimmy Nelson in the seventh inning tonight.

Murphy’s 17th of 2017 cut the visiting team’s lead in half, 2-1, after the Brew Crew jumped out to a two-run lead on Gio Gonzalez early in the second of three in D.C.

Gonzalez gave up just the two early runs on five hits over seven innings in Nationals Park, striking out eight.

An eighth inning rally spared Gonzalez a loss and lifted the Nationals to victory, with Wilmer Difo’s one-out single tying things up before Ryan Zimmerman’s two-out, two-run double putting the home team ahead for good. 8-5 final in D.C.

Nationals now 60-39

HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Domingo Santana hit a 2-0 fastball from Gio Gonzalez farther than just about anyone has hit a home run to left in Nationals Park to put the Brewers up 1-0 early.

It landed, bounced, whatever, near the base of the stairs that go up to the Bud Light Loft or whatever the Red Porch is called now. It went far...

Travis Shaw doubled to left with two down, practically walked over to/stole third base with Jesus Aguilar at the plate, and scored on a wild pitch/strike three, 2-0.

• Gio Gonzalez settled in after the long-ish first, retiring seven straight after the wild pitch/strike three in the first inning, completing three innings on 41 pitches overall, four on 62, and five on 80.

• Jimmy Nelson, who tossed five scoreless against the Nationals in Miller Park last June, on 92 pitches, started his night tonight with five scoreless in 62 pitches, limiting Nats’ hitters to just three hits.

• Nelson was up to 79 after six scoreless, but Daniel Murphy broke up his shutout bid with a solo shot to right on a 95 mph 1-2 fastball that left the field of play in a hurry, 2-1 Brewers. Murphy’s 17th.

• Gio Gonzalez’s Line: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks, 1 HR, 102 P, 67 S, 4/5 GO/FO.

• Ryan Madson took over on the mound in the eighth and tossed a scoreless, 12-pitch frame, with a strike’em out, throw’em out double play erasing a leadoff single.

• Matt Wieters’ leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth ended Nelson’s night.

Jacob Barnes took over for Milwaukee, and got a force at second on a subpar bunt by Adrian Sanchez, but Brian Goodwin followed with a chopper over first base for a one-out double that sent Sanchez around to third, and Wilmer Difo drove the tying run in with a single through the right side, 2-2.

Bryce Harper got a new pitcher, lefty Josh Hader. He took a 1-0 fastball for a low called strike, and almost lost it on home plate ump Chris Segal there, then completely lost it when he struck out swinging at a 1-2 heater, and got himself tossed. Bryce?

Brewers’ righty Jared Hughes came on to face Ryan Zimmerman and gave up a two-out, two-run double to right field on a 1-0 sinker Zim shot into right, 4-2 Nationals.

And... 5-2 after an RBI single by Anthony Rendon, and 7-2 on a two-run double by Adam Lind... and 8-2 on an RBI double by Pedro Severino.

• Sean Doolittle, who was warming for a save opportunity, came on with a six-run lead and gave up a one-out walk, and a two-run home run by Lewis Brinson, 8-4. Orlando Arcia and Hernan Perez connected for back-to-back hits, a single for Arcia, and a double for Perez, 8-5, before Doolittle locked it down.

Final Score: Nationals 8-5 over Brewers.

NATIONALS PREGAME NOTES:

• With last night’s loss, Washington fell to 40-43 in their all-time series with the Milwaukee Brewers.
• Washington started the night 26-20 at home in Nationals Park this season, with their .565 winning percentage at home, the fourth-best mark in the NL.
• Milwaukee started the night 26-24 on the road this season, with wins in seven of 16 road series in 2017.
• Bryce Harper started the night with a 17-game hitting streak, over which he was 28 for 64 (.426 AVG) with six doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 12 walks, and 23 runs scored over that stretch. He also extended his 25-game on-base streak in last night’s game. He extended both streaks with a two-out single in the first.
• Anthony Rendon started the night leading the NL in fWAR (5.0), which was good for second-best in the majors, behind only the Astros’ Jose Altuve and Yankees’ Aaron Judge (tied at 5.5).
• The Nationals unveiled the 2018 All-Star Game logo this afternoon. Nationals Park will host its first-time All-Star Game next July, but it will be the fifth time the Midsummer Classic is being held in the nation’s capital.
• Gio Gonzalez started the night (2-3) with a 4.95 ERA in seven career starts against the Brewers, with losses in each of his last three outings vs Milwaukee.

Nationals now 60-39