Hernandez Does It All for Nationals in Win

Livan Hernandez was as good at the plate as he was on the mound.

Hernandez (15-6) didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning, took a shutout into the ninth, and drove in a key run with one of his two singles to lead the Washington Nationals past the Florida Marlins, 5-2, Monday at Washington.

“I like the big games,” said Hernandez, the World Series most valuable player for Florida in 1997. “I’m not the kind of guy that is nervous.”

Washington has won three consecutive games for only the second time in two months, and this streak was built against Philadelphia and Florida, clubs ahead of the Nationals in the tight National League wild-card race.

In the eighth, with Washington clinging to a 1-0 lead and Ryan Zimmerman on after a leadoff single, Manager Frank Robinson went to his bench for consecutive pinch-hitters. Brian Schneider was intentionally walked and Carlos Baerga flied out, bringing up Hernandez with two on and two out.

Time for another pinch-hitter, right? Nope, Robinson didn’t even consider it.

“My thinking is, he’s in complete control of that ballgame. He’s a battler, he’s a warrior, and I’m not going to take him out of there and interrupt things out there on the field,” Robinson said.

So Hernandez, the Silver Slugger Award winner last year as the NL’s top-hitting pitcher, poked an run-scoring single to shallow right field against reliever Guillermo Mota to make it 2-0.

Houston 4, Philadelphia 3 -- Andy Pettitte pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, Lance Berkman hit a three-run homer at Philadelphia and the Astros moved into first place in the wild-card standings.

Pettitte (14-9) gave up three hits, struck out five and walked none.

St. Louis 6, Chicago 4 -- Albert Pujols hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth inning and Jeff Suppan didn’t give up any earned runs in six innings for the host Cardinals. The Cubs had a winning streak ended at three games.

Atlanta 4, New York 2 -- Chipper Jones hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer and drove in three runs at Atlanta. Andruw Jones also hit his major league-leading 45th homer for the Braves.

Milwaukee 6, Cincinnati 1 -- J.J. Hardy singled with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to drive in the go-ahead run and Geoff Jenkins tied his career-high with five hits to back the efficient pitching of Tomo Ohka (10-7) at Cincinnati.