Nationals Force Phillies to Wait A Little Bit Longer

Ortiz (11-15) proceeded to yield consecutive singles in the second, third and fifth innings, but each time escaped further trouble. "In the first inning, they were aggressive and hit everything," Ortiz said.

The Phillies blamed the umpires for their missed opportunity in the second. With two runners on and two outs, Chase Utley hit a fly down the right field line that was ruled foul. The Phillies did not argue at the time, but after watching replays following the game, they expressed their displeasure.

"Somebody's got to see it," Manager Charlie Manuel said. "It's terrible. It's unreal."

With runners on the corners with one out in the third, Ortiz struck out Mike Lieberthal and got Abraham Nuñez on a liner to center. And in the fifth, after the first two batters reached, including Howard with his second hit, Ortiz retired Conine on a liner, struck out Pat Burrell for the second time and ended the threat on Lieberthal's gentle fly ball.

The Nationals, meantime, scored once in their initial at-bat against Brett Myers (12-7), then took the lead with a pair of runs in the third inning, with both rallies involving Zimmerman.

The rookie produced the first run with a one-out groundout that knocked in Bernie Castro, who had bunted for a hit and gone to third on Felipe Lopez's single.

Two innings later, a couple of walks set the stage for Zimmerman, who -- with two outs -- drove the ball over left fielder Burrell for his 47th double, which tied him with Albert Pujols, Fred Lynn and Vada Pinson for the most by a rookie since Johnny Frederick's 52 for the Brooklyn Robins in 1929.

His 107 RBI surpassed Hideki Matsui's 106 total as a first-year player three years ago and put him on pace to overtake Carlos Beltran (108) and perhaps Mike Piazza (112) before the season concludes this weekend against the New York Mets.

"It's good to see him finishing very well on the offensive part of it," Robinson said. "It will serve him well over the course of his career when something is on the line in September, something to play for."

After effective relief appearances by Jim Traber and Saul Rivera, Washington turned to Jon Rauch to face a parade of pinch hitters in the eighth. He allowed Randall Simon's one-out single and caught David Dellucci looking at a third strike. With Chris Coste at bat, pinch runner Michael Bourn had second base stolen but slid over the bag and was tagged out.

Zimmerman scored the Nationals' fourth run after singling with two outs in the eighth, moving to second on a walk and scrambling home on Brian Schneider's slow bouncer that second baseman Utley could not pick up with his bare hand.

Cordero entered in the ninth and, after allowing Coste's double, got Jimmy Rollins on a pop out, then struck out Shane Victorino. Utley singled to left, cutting the deficit to 4-3 and giving Howard an opportunity to tie it or put the Phillies ahead.

With the crowd on its feet, however, the big first baseman lifted a harmless fly.

"We weren't going to let him extend his hands," Schneider said. "If you miss that spot by a couple of inches, he's a guy that's going to hurt you pretty bad."