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Zimmerman, Bowie buoy Nationals past Blue Jays

Jun 17, 2007 - 9:09 PM TORONTO (Ticker) -- Ryan Zimmerman and Micah Bowie sent the Washington Nationals home in style.

Zimmerman homered for the second straight day and Bowie pitched six strong innings as the Nationals finished a nine-game road trip and avoided a sweep with a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday.

With the game tied at 2-2, Zimmerman led off the fourth with his 12th home run of the season. On Saturday, he also homered, but that solo shot was lost in a 7-3 defeat.

"(Towers) threw me a first-pitch fastball the first at-bat, and I went up there the second time just hoping he'd try and get ahead again," said Zimmerman, who has 33 RBI in his last 35 games. "He threw sort of the same pitch, and I put a good swing on it."

Bowie (4-2) allowed two runs and four hits and struck out a season-high six to improve to 4-0 since entering the starting rotation on May 20.

"It's awesome to pick up a win on Father's Day," said Bowie, who entered this season with a 4-9 career record over four seasons. "I'm just thankful to be here and have the opportunity to start. At the beginning of the year, I was going to be in the bullpen and I didn't think something like this was possible. I thought my career was over a long time ago."

"He's made a very strong case (to stay in the rotation)," Washington manager Manny Acta said. "He's got the pitches to be a starter - he's got that good slider and cutter and he throws a good changeup."

Three Nationals relievers did not allow a hit in their three innings. Jesus Colome and Jon Rauch each struck out a batter while Chad Cordero induced three harmless flyouts in the ninth for his 11th save of the season.

"Usually it takes awhile for somebody to build up their arm but (Bowie's) been able to do it," Cordero said. "For a guy that hasn't started for so long, it's pretty impressive. Fortunately, I was able to throw strikes and close it out."

Washington, which was 6-3 on the road trip, added an insurance run in the fifth, courtesy of Ronnie Belliard's RBI single.

After Aaron Hill's sacrifice fly gave the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead in the first, the Nationals scored a pair in the second after Austin Kearns, who doubled to right to plate Dmitri Young, scored on Tony Batista's single.

Frank Thomas tied the game at 2-2 in the third inning after blasting a solo home run, the 496th for his career. The blast was also his 244th homer as a designated hitter, which surpassed Edgar Martinez for the tops in the majors.

"It's a great feeling because Edgar was such a great hitter," Thomas said. "I'm happy to get (the record), but not in a losing cause. Individual accomplishments don't really mean anything to me anymore. It's all about winning."

"It's pretty impressive," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "You look at his numbers over the years and he's been as consistent as anybody."

Blue Jays starter Josh Towers (2-5) allowed four runs on seven hits in seven innings.

"I'm not too happy with my performance," Towers said. "I made some bad pitches early on and that cost us the game. I was able to regroup, but the damage was done."

Toronto, which had scored seven runs in each of its previous three games, saw its mastery of Washington end on Saturday. The Blue Jays had defeated the Nationals six straight times.