Nats pound Big Z

Carlos Zambrano delivered one run with a solo blast, but he allowed eight runs to spoil the Cubs' night in a 15-6 beating by the Nationals on Tuesday.

Zambrano's ERA increased from 3.35 to 3.80 after he allowed eight runs in 4 1/3 innings in his first start since Aug. 1. He allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out four.

"I was behind in the count too much," said Zambrano, who lost to the Nationals for the first time since May 15, 2005. "In the big leagues, when you're behind in the count, you make a mistake, you will pay for it."

The Cubs dropped nine games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. The Nationals' 15 runs marked the most by any Cubs opponent since Aug. 11, 2007, when the Rockies also scored 15.

"Sometimes when we hit, we don't pitch good," Zambrano said. "When we pitch good, we don't hit. That's a rare thing to happen to us all year long. We've got to keep fighting. We've got to go out there [and] like Lou says the other day, just keep trying to play hard."

Zambrano hit his fourth home run of the season Tuesday to lead all major-league pitchers. He extended his franchise record the home run, which was the 20th of his career, but he said it wasn't at all satisfying.

"Not when you lost," he said. "It doesn't matter when you lost. My job is to pitch. I didn't do my job today. Nothing else matters."

-Tom Musick