A.J. Cole looked sharp early (especially his slider), but it was a repeat of his last start vs the Miami Marlins, with long balls and a rough fifth doing the damage again tonight.
Cole, 25, tossed three scoreless and hitless against the visiting team in Nationals Park, but Derek Dietrich connected for the first hit in the fourth, a solo shot to right on a 1-2 slider, and Giancarlo Stanton crushed a first-pitch fastball in the Fish fifth, sending a no-doubter of a three-run blast out to left field for his career-best 38th home run of the season, and a 4-1 lead.