For the second night in a row the Washington Nationals used the longball and for the second night in a row the Nationals defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 9-3. Three different Nationals players hit a home run, one of them being a grand slam.
In the fourth inning the red hot Rick Ankiel with the bases loaded demolished a pitch from Atlanta's Derek Lowe and put it over the wall for his first grand slam since 2007. Ankiel's third home run in two days put the Nationals up 6-3. In the next inning shortstop Ian Desmond continued the barrage by hitting his fourth home run of the season, a two-run bomb. Then in the bottom of the sixth first baseman Michael Morse took Cristhian Martinez long for a solo shot, his 18th of the season.
Starter John Lannan went six innings giving up three runs on nine hits. He walked one and recorded eight strikeouts. It was yet another good pitching performance in a string of great performances Lannan has put together over the last two months. Lannan has won six of his last eight decisions to move to 8-7 on the season.
The Nationals move to 53-56 on the season.