Penny and Pierre pace 10-0 victory

There were a lot of things to celebrate in the Dodgers’ 10-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Brad Penny’s seventh win, tying him for the league lead. Or the team’s season-high 10 runs. And what about the 16 hits, the season-high seven extra-base hits and the most lopsided victory margin in nearly a year, all of which combined to leave the Dodgers alone again atop the National League West?

“Everything fell good for us out there tonight,” Manager Grady Little said.

But if there was a celebration, it was a short one -- especially for center fielder Juan Pierre. Moments after finishing his best week of the season with one of the best games of his career, Pierre stripped off his uniform, pulled on a clean pair of shorts and ran off to the gym.

“Just weights. Did a leg workout today,” said Pierre, who went four for five, scored twice and drove in a run. “Just routine.”

And what Pierre did before his workout is almost becoming routine too.

Although his four extra-base hits Tuesday were a career high, the multi-hit game was his fourth in five starts, raising his batting average over that span 20 points to .286. Not coincidentally, the Dodgers won four of those five.

“It’s probably the best I’ve felt at the plate as a Dodger,” said Pierre who, until a week ago, had been something of a disappointment after signing a $44-million free-agent contract last winter. “[But] whether it’s a good night or a bad night ... you can enjoy this one for maybe an hour or so. You’ve got to have amnesia in this game.

“Tomorrow you’ve got to come out there and be even better.”

Even the Rolling Stones might have a hard time coming up with an encore for this performance, however. Especially since Pierre used the whole field, tripling to right and scoring in the first, driving in a run in the third with a double to center and lining another ball into the right-field corner in the fifth that would have been a triple had the slow-footed Penny not been on base in front of him.

Penny’s lack of speed cost Pierre another RBI in the seventh when, after one-hopping a double over the left-field wall, he could only advance 90 feet when Pierre followed with a slicing line-drive double that landed near the left-field line.

Pierre said he gave Penny a hard time. “I could go a month without an [RBI]. My ribbies are too far in between so I was trying to get all I can.”

Both runners eventually scored -- Penny lumbering home and Pierre dashing in from second -- when Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman threw wildly to the plate trying for a difficult force out. That started a six-run rally -- matching the team’s best inning of the season -- highlighted by Luis Gonzalez’s three-run homer, which gave the Dodgers a commanding 9-0 lead.

Penny (7-1) was a little swifter on the mound, keeping his fastball in the mid 90s while keeping the Nationals off the scoreboard through 6 1/3 shutout innings, dropping his earned-run average to 2.06 and running his scoreless innings streak to a modest 13 1/3 . The right-hander gave up only four hits and, helped by two double plays, didn’t allow a runner to reach second until the seventh.

Penny also contributed two hits, joining four others with multiple hits in the Dodgers’ 16-hit attack. Relievers Yhency Brazoban and Brett Tomko took it from there, combining to retire eight of the nine batters they faced to nail down the Dodgers’ third shutout of the season.

“There was some good hitting going on. [And] good pitching,” Little said. “That’s real good for winning games.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com