Nats' latest offensive explosion includes five homers (updated)

OAKLAND, Calif. - Another late night on the West Coast, another impressive offensive performance, another dominant start.

And, by extension, another convincing win for the Nationals.

Tonight's 13-3 victory over the Athletics was the Nats' fourth straight to begin this nine-game swing through California. And like the previous three in San Francisco, it was never seriously in doubt.

Michael A. Taylor, Daniel Murphy, Jayson Werth, Brian Goodwin and Anthony Rendon all homered to pace a balanced offensive attack that didn't seem to miss Bryce Harper (serving the second game of his three-game suspension) one bit.

In fact, the guy who replaced Harper in the lineup, Goodwin, enjoyed a Harper-esque night. The rookie right fielder went 4-for-5 with his first career homer, a triple and two singles, and also made a spectacular diving catch of a line drive earlier in the game.

"It was a great feeling," said Goodwin, whose homer came in his 70th big league at-bat. "It's a feeling I've been looking for for a long time. To finally get that monkey off my back, it felt great."

With nine position players in the lineup for this interleague matchup, the Nationals hardly looked at a disadvantage. Their eighth- and ninth-place batters - Taylor and Goodwin - combined for five hits, including two homers and a double.

All nine starters had at least one hit, one run scored and one RBI. It's the first time the Nationals have ever done that and the first time any major league team has done that since 2013.

"We've got a very formidable bench, as well as lineup," said manager Dusty Baker, who notched his 1,800th career victory. "They don't feel like one man has to do it all the time. Because anybody up and down that lineup can hurt you."

That kind of lineup depth has turned the Nationals into perhaps baseball's most feared offensive squad, and for good reason. There's no letup anywhere in the order, even with Harper serving his suspension and Adam Eaton out for the season with a torn ACL.

Only 53 games into the season, the Nationals already have scored 13 or more runs six times and piled up 19 or more hits five times. Both are tops in the majors.

What's it like to bat in a lineup of this caliber and depth?

"Very relaxing," Goodwin said. "These guys, I mean, they're special. Just being in a lineup like this, where guys are so pro, they just know what they're doing, it just really takes the pressure off guys like me to go up there and have relaxed at-bats."

They now have four players (Harper, Murphy, Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman) on pace for at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs, with the season reaching the one-third mark after Saturday's game.

With that kind of offensive support, who wouldn't want to take the mound for this team? Stephen Strasburg became the latest beneficiary, easily earning his seventh win of the season on a night in which he could have surrendered a dozen runs and still walked away victorious.

Strasburg made only one mistake during his seven impressive innings: an 0-1 fastball to Matt Joyce in the bottom of the third that wound up sailing over the right field fence for a two-run homer. Otherwise, the right-hander was on cruise control, striking out seven during his 100-pitch outing against a lineup he had never faced before.

"You don't have to really look into what you did to them the last time, because there wasn't a last time," Strasburg said. "I think you just go off the scouting report a little bit, but really just pitch your game, pitch to your strengths."