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Espinosa hits 2 HRs as Nats pound Lee, Phillies

Jun 1, 2011 - 5:27 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Danny Espinosa hit two home runs against Cliff Lee, finishing 3-for-4 with four RBI and leading the Nationals in a 10-2 rout of the Phillies.

Michael Morse went 3-for-5 and drove in two for the Nationals, who got to Lee (4-5) for six runs in 5 1/3 innings. Lee gave up seven hits and walked three, and has issued more bases on balls this year (19) than he did during all of 2010 (18).

"They're professional hitters and if you continue to get behind a little bit and keep throwing balls over the plate, they're going to score runs," Lee said. "I have to do a better job at keeping balls inside the park, especially with men on and two outs."

The Nationals won for just the second time in their last 10 games after totaling 13 hits. The beneficiary of the offensive output was Jason Marquis (6-2), who claimed the victory after limiting the Phillies to two runs in 6 1/3 innings.

"We've been getting team wins all year," Marquis said. "Obviously the results aren't always what we want. But like I said, everything was flowing -- the hitting, the pitching, the defense. Hopefully we'll have more games like this."

Domonic Brown and John Mayberry Jr. hit back-to-back homers for Philadelphia, which won the opener of this three-game series Monday.

The Nationals posted most of their runs against Lee in the third inning, when Marquis was standing on first with one away after his sacrifice bunt resulted in a fielder's choice force out at second.

But the situation turned into a rally after Roger Bernadina singled and Lee walked Ian Desmond to load the bases.

Former Phillies Jayson Werth sent a fly ball to right to get Marquis home and moved Bernadina to third, and Morse then singled to left to plate another run.

At that point the difference wasn't great, but Espinosa gave the Nationals control on the next pitch. Lee's changeup was on the outer half of the plate and up, and Espinosa extended to send the ball over the left-center field fence, making it a 5-0 game.

The Phillies got on the board in the fifth, which Brown led off by pulling a full-count fastball into the right field seats. Mayberry then got all of a fastball that tailed back over the plate, crushing it to left-center.

But Marquis didn't give up another run, while Espinosa hit his second homer leading off the sixth. Lee fell behind 3-1 before throwing a fastball in a similar location to the first pitch that Espinosa blasted out of the park. The result this time was the same, though the second shot traveled farther.

The Nationals tacked on three more runs in the seventh against Danys Baez: Morse hit an RBI double, while Ivan Rodriguez and Jerry Hairston Jr. had run- scoring singles.

Werth's RBI double in the eighth completed the scoring.

Game Notes

Espinosa recorded his second career multi-homer game...Espinosa became the first player to hit two home runs off Lee in a game since Josh Bell on August 21, 2010...The Phillies allowed a season high in runs...The Nationals announced that their game that was rained out May 17 against Pittsburgh has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader for Saturday, July 2. The first game will start at 3:35 p.m. (et) with the second contest to follow at 7:05 p.m. or later.