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Rendon carries Nationals past Astros

May 1, 2014 - 6:17 AM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Anthony Rendon went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and three RBI to lead the Washington Nationals to a 7-0 win over the Houston Astros and a sweep of the brief two-game set.

Danny Espinosa had a solo home run and Jayson Werth drove in one for the Nationals, who have won five of seven. Denard Span added a triple and two runs scored.

Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann (2-1) threw 6 1/3 scoreless frames while fanning seven and walking one. Relievers Aaron Barrett, Ross Detwiler and Ryan Mattheus combined for 2 2/3 scoreless innings to achieve the shutout.

"I didn't feel as good as I would have liked," Zimmermann said. "They got me some runs early, so I settled down."

Jesus Guzman went 3-for-4 with a double, the Astros' lone extra base hit. Jonathan Villar had two hits for Houston, which saw starter Brett Oberholtzer (0-5) get knocked around for six runs on 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings.

"We didn't generate much offense, and when we did we just could not get that big hit," Houston manager Bo Porter said.

Span led off the third with a triple to right-center, and right fielder George Springer could not pick the ball up cleanly and enabled Span to score on the error.

In the fourth the Nationals notched four more runs. Kevin Frandsen hit a leadoff single and scored on an error by Guzman after Sandy Leon singled to center. A Span single sent Leon to third to put runners on the corners for Rendon, who doubled to left plating both runners.

Werth then singled to center to bring Rendon around to give Washington a 5-0 lead after four.

In the fifth inning, Espinosa ripped a 2-2 pitch from Oberholtzer to left for a solo blast with two outs. The Nationals picked up the final tally in the sixth when Rendon went deep to right.

Game Notes

Dexter Fowler and Jason Castro saw a nine-game and six-game hitting streak, respectively, come to an end ... Houston fell to 0-12 when they fail to hit a home run ... Washington opens a three-game series Friday in Philadelphia against the Phillies ... The Astros host the Seattle Mariners on Friday to open a three-game series.