Rich Harden was sharp again as he led the Chicago Cubs to a 6-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Harden struck out 11 batters over seven innings and allowed only two hits. The loss drops Washington to 46-85.
Jason Bergmann started against Harden and just wasn’t as sharp as his counterpart. Bergmann lasted 6.1 innings but gave up four earned runs and two homers as he took the loss. The loss drops Bergmann to 2-10. Steven Shell came on after Bergmann and gave up two more runs to put the Nationals out of the game.
One for the Nationals two hits off of Harden was a solo homer by Austin Kearns in the third inning, it was his seventh homer of the season. Ryan Zimmerman went 0-4 with four strike outs and Ronnie Belliard struck out three times.
The Nationals will take the day off on Monday as they head home for a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The series starts on Tuesday night.