HOUSTON -- After hitting just . Tony Snell Jersey .136 last April, the Washington Nationals are certainly enjoying the way Adam LaRoche has started this season. LaRoche continued his hot start Tuesday night, hitting a tying double in the eighth inning and a go-ahead single in the ninth to lift the Nationals over the Houston Astros 4-3. "Its good for him because hes not traditionally a fast starter," manager Matt Williams said. "He really focused on it in spring training and really focused on driving one in. Hes going to hit homers with guys on base but that ones big for us as evidenced tonight. If he can do that the homers will come ... but when he can consistently drive runs in like that were a better team." Jayson Werth homered as the Nationals won the opener of the interleague series. Denard Span drew a leadoff walk in the ninth, stole second and advanced to third on a groundout. He scored on LaRoches hit to right field off Josh Fields (0-3). "When Im feeling pretty good, one, Im taking some walks and two, Im using the whole field," LaRoche said. LaRoche is hitting .312 with four home runs, 17 RBIs and 16 walks in 2014. Tyler Clippard (2-2) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. Rafael Soriano walked two in a scoreless ninth for his fifth save. Werth hit fourth home run in the first inning. Houston scored three times in the third for a 3-2 lead, helped by rookie George Springers two-run single. Houston manager Bo Porter was troubled that his team let another one get away late. "Its very concerning, because our starting pitcher did a very good job," he said. "You feel like you are in position to win the game, you have the right guys matched up, and you just dont get it done." Werth singled to start the eighth and scored on LaRoches double to left-centre field. Center fielder Dexter Fowler tracked the ball to the wall, but it glanced off his glove as he crashed to the ground. The Nationals went on to load the bases before Chad Qualls struck out Jose Lobaton. Washington starter Gio Gonzalez allowed five hits and three runs, striking out a season-high nine in six innings. Houstons Jarred Cosart gave up five hits, two runs and struck out six in six innings in his first career start against an NL team. Cosart hit Kevin Frandsen with a pitch to start the third inning and he scored on a double by Lobaton to make it 2-0. Houstons first hit was a double by Matt Dominguez to open the third and he moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Jonathan Villar. Fowlers two-out single cut Washingtons lead to 2-1 and extended his hitting streak to nine games. Jason Castro reached on a double when the ball bounced off the padding on the wall in left field -- Frandsen saved a run when he made a nifty no-look, backhanded stop on the carom. He said he simply got lucky on the play and shared what he told his teammates when they asked how he did it. "You stick your glove out and maybe some things go in there," he said with a laugh. Springers single on a line drive to left field put Houston ahead. The Nationals had another good defensive play when Span ran up Tals Hill in centre field and landed on his backside as he caught a fly ball hit by Dominguez for the second out of the fourth inning. NOTES: These teams wrap up the two-game series on Wednesday when Houston LHP Brett Oberholtzer opposes RHP Jordan Zimmermann. ... Washington OF Bryce Harper had surgery on his injured left thumb on Tuesday and will be out for an extended period of time. Harper was injured on Friday night against San Diego on a headfirst slide into third base on a triple. ... Houston RHP Scott Feldman, on the 15-day DL retroactive to April 18 with right biceps tendinitis, said he felt good after throwing 35 pitches in a bullpen session on Tuesday. He is eligible to come off the DL on May 3. Bailey Howell Jersey . -- Arizona coach Sean Miller rose from his seat every time Roberto Nelson touched the ball and yelled "Shooter!" He could have been talking about his own team, too. John Long Jersey . Jacob Jacques, Andrew Ryan and Jonathan Drouin also scored for Halifax (37-18-3), who outshot the Islanders 40-26. Kevin Darveau stopped 25 shots. Bradley Kennedy had the lone goal for Charlottetown (18-33-5), which has nine losses in its last 10 games. https://www.cheappistonsonline.com/386y-dennis-rodman-jersey-pistons.html . -- Phil Mickelson will be watching the final two rounds of the Masters from home for the first time in 17 years.PITTSBURGH, Pa. - With their captain under fire and their season on the brink of collapse, the Pittsburgh Penguins responded with a crackling show of force. Of course, having the New York Rangers look like a team only too happy to get back home with a split helped. Kris Letang broke a scoreless tie in the second period, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves for his franchise-record seventh playoff shutout to lift the Penguins to a 3-0 victory on Sunday night, tying the second-round series one game apiece. Letangs 15th career postseason goal matched Larry Murphys record for Penguins defensemen. Jussi Jokinen scored during a third-period power play, and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-net goal for the Penguins, who pushed around the suddenly weary Rangers. Fleury earned his 50th career playoff victory. "I thought to a man our players were extremely good all night," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said. "It was a huge win for us." Game 3 is Monday night in New York. Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for New York, but the Rangers mustered little offense while playing their fourth game in six days. Not that coach Alain Vigneault wanted to blame fatigue for a listless performance. "Did my goaltender look tired? He was on top of his game," Vigneault said. "If hes not tired, nobody else should be." The Rangers have lost eight straight Game 2s and have dropped 13 consecutive games when leading in a series. They had their chances to jump ahead early, only to be let down again by an anemic power play. Three times in the first 10 minutes a Penguins player skated to the penalty box, and three times the Rangers spent two minutes milling about as though they were killing time before getting back to even strength. The Rangers finished 0 for 4 with the man advantage and havent scored the last 29 times theyve had an extra skater on the ice. "It could have given us some momentum, and we didnt finish," Vigneault said. "Ive got to find the right trigger points here to make it work. Well spend the night trying to figure it out." Only Lundqvist seemed interested in sending the Rangers back to New York with a commanding 2-0 lead. He was typically brilliant, particularly when Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby was on the ice. The NHLs leading scorer and Hart Trophy finalist is in the midst of a lengthy postseason scoring funk. He began the night without a goal in 12 straight playoff gaames, a span that included 327 shifts and 275 minutes of ice time. Jonas Jerebko Jersey. Bylsma insisted early Sunday that he anticipated seeing Crosby at his "best" with the season possibly at stake. Though Crosby failed to score, it was the only thing he didnt do. For the first time in weeks, he looked like himself. Relentless at both ends of the ice, the jump in his game that was missing at times during a listless performance in Game 1 returned. "To see Sid play like that tonight was really inspiring for everybody in our dressing room," Letang said. "He was really dangerous." Crosby finished with a game-high six shots. During one stretch at the end of the first period he produced a pair of scoring opportunities, including a nifty deke around two defenders, before he ripped a wrist shot that just missed the net. Each time Crosby appeared poised to end the drought, Lundqvist found a way to get a piece of the puck. He made a sprawling leg save on a tip-in attempt by Crosby, though Lundqvist wasnt so fortunate the next time the Penguins came at him. Chris Kunitz began a breakout by feeding Malkin at the New York blue line. Malkin slipped the puck over to Letang, who flipped it toward the net. Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi dived headfirst to block the attempted pass to Kunitz, but the puck deflected off Girardis stick and past a surprised Lundqvist to give Pittsburgh the lead. "They just spent a lot of time in our own end," Lundqvist said. "That was the biggest difference." Fleury had little problem letting the one-goal advantage stand up. The Rangers rarely challenged him over the final 30 minutes, and Jokinen and Malkin removed any remaining drama by scoring twice in the last 5 minutes. Jokinen banged in a rebound off a shot by James Neal for his fourth goal of the playoffs with 3:30 remaining. Malkin beat two Rangers to tap in an empty-net goal with 54 seconds left as the Penguins exhaled. "Now the series is tied 1-1, and two games in their building," Jokinen said. "Im sure theyre going to be better. We need to keep playing the way were playing." NOTES: Lundqvist made his 75th career playoff appearance. He will tie Mike Richters club record for games played if he starts, as expected, on Monday night. ... Pittsburgh D Brooks Orpik missed his fourth straight game with an undisclosed injury. ... The Penguins are 2-6 in their last eight Game 2s. ' ' '