WASHINGTON -- The Washington Nationals know they have plenty of work to do to get back into the NL playoff race. Adam LaRoche hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to lift Washington to its fourth consecutive victory with a 4-2 win over the Giants. Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez threw four shutout innings. San Francisco lefty Madison Bumgarner allowed just one run on an infield ground out in his four innings before the rain hit. "Four wins in a row, thats pretty good," said Gonzalez, who pitched despite a sore back and said the injury will not affect his next start. LaRoche sent a 1-0 fastball from Giants reliever Guillermo Moscoso (1-1) off the facing of the second deck above the Nationals bullpen in right field. That came after a leadoff single by Ian Desmond and broke a 1-1 tie. Tanner Roark (2-0) earned the win with two innings of relief after the delay. Rafael Soriano got his 30th save of the season. "Good little streak were on," LaRoche said. "Better late than never. But were still in a hole pretty good so weve got a lot of work to do." Thats because the winning streak has done little for Washington (58-60) in its pursuit of an NL wild-card berth. It remains 8 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot with just 44 games remaining after the Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs 6-4 in 11 innings on Tuesday. The Giants are struggling after winning their second World Series in three years last season. They are 7-15 over their past 22 games and at 52-66 in last place in the NL West. "Same thing weve been talking about," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "We get our hits. We get them out there. We just cant get them in. Again, it came back to get us." Even with the winning streak, frustrations have mounted for the Nationals in recent days. Earlier in the 11-game homestand, outfielder Bryce Harper and manager Davey Johnson argued in the dugout late in an Aug. 7 loss to Atlanta. In the first inning on Tuesday, Gonzalez was late covering first base on a fielders choice ground out. After the inning, television cameras caught Washington outfielder Jayson Werth and Gonzalez in a verbal altercation in the dugout. Gonzalez had to be screened by pitching coach Steve McCatty as Werth walked away. "It stays between me and Werth," Gonzalez said. Werth refused comment after the game. "Just a little camaraderie going on," Johnson said. "Jayson sometimes can get a little vocal. He thought Gio was a little late covering first." The Giants had evened the score after the rain delay ended because of a Desmond error at shortstop with runners at first and third in the fifth. Joaquin Arias scored that run. San Francisco had scratched second baseman Marco Scutaro (stiff back), who was originally in the lineup. Arias replaced him and had three singles and a double for a career-high four hits and scored twice. Desmond began the fourth with a double to right-centre field. LaRoche followed with a single to right. Then Wilson Ramos hit a ball off Bumgarners right knee. It deflected to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who threw out Ramos as Desmond scored to put the Nationals up 1-0. Gonzalez remained in the game despite the sore back, and kept San Francisco off the board. The Giants had runners at first and second in the fourth before Gonzalez struck out Brandon Crawford looking to end the threat. That was the end of his night at 69 pitches. Thunderstorms moved in and halted the game at 8:28 p.m. Kurt Suzuki added a run for Washington with a sacrifice fly in the eighth. NOTES: Harper didnt start the game because he had the flu, according to Johnson, but made a pinch-hitting appearance in the eighth inning. . San Francisco CF Angel Pagan, on the DL since May 28 following surgery on his left hamstring, could start a rehab assignment at the end of this week, Bochy said. ... Nationals RHP Ross Ohlendorf, on the DL with a right arm injury, was expected to throw a bullpen session Tuesday and will make a rehab start on Aug. 15 or 16, according to Johnson. ... Washington LHP Ross Detwiler, on the DL since July 4 with a herniated disc in his back, wont resume baseball activities for at least another week, but is expected to return this season, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo said. ... San Francisco starts RHP Tim Lincecum (6-11, 4.18) on Wednesday in the second of a three-game series. He faces Washington RHP Jordan Zimmermann (13-6, 3.06). Cy Sneed Astros Jersey .C. -- Todd Fiddler scored a hat trick, including the overtime goal, as the Prince George Cougars survived an 8-7 win against the Kamloops Blazers in Western Hockey League play Sunday. Joe Morgan Jersey .H. -- Matt Kenseth made it 2 for 2 in the Chase, holding off teammate Kyle Busch to win Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. https://www.cheapastros.com/1323o-framber-valdez-jersey-astros.html . -- The boos poured down on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at the end of a horrible first half. Cy Sneed Astros Jersey . Despite dominating possession, Schalke needed an own goal from Nicolas Hoefler for the breakthrough a minute before the interval. The Freiburg midfielder misjudged Jefferson Farfans corner and bundled the ball into his own net. Luis Gonzalez Astros Jersey . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. OXON HILL, Md. -- Claire Smith is the first woman to win the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing and will be honored during the Hall of Fames induction weekend next July in Cooperstown, New York.The 62-year-old Smith covered the New York Yankees for the Hartford Courant for five years starting in 1983 and was a columnist for The New York Times from 1991-98 and The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1998-2007. She currently is ESPNs news editor of remote productions.Smith was given a standing ovation when her election was announced Tuesday at a Baseball Writers Association of America meeting, and she asked the other half dozen women in the room to stand alongside her as she spoke.Her voice quavering, Smith thanked the guys that stood up to the athletes and teams and said that we are your peers and we deserve to be treated like you.I want to thank you as well as the women who walked the walk and fought the battles and got all of us to this point, she said. No one does this by themselves.Smith appeared on 272 of 449 ballots cast by BBWAA members with 10 or more consecutive years of membership..dddddddddddd Jim Reeves, a columnist and baseball writer during a 40-year career with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, received 118 votes and Juan Vene, a longtime reporter and broadcaster, was on 56. There were three blanks.A graduate of Temple, Smith also has been among the pioneering African-American baseball reporters.She was the first winner of the Sam Lacey-Wendell Smith Award for the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland and was selected as the Sports Journalist of the Year from the National Association of Black Journalists in 1997. She won the 2000 Mary Garber Pioneer Award from the Association of Women in Sports Media and the 2010 Sam Lacy Award at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame.The Spink Award was first given in 1962. Next years Hall induction weekend is scheduled for July 28-31.Former Commissioner Bud Selig and former Kansas City and Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz will be inducted along with any players elected Jan. 18. ' ' '