Zimmerman sets Nats’ home run record

CINCINNATI » The NL East leaders opened the second half of the season with a franchise record, a series sweep and a significant upgrade — exactly how the Nationals wanted to keep their momentum going.

Ryan Zimmerman set the Nationals’ career home run record with a solo shot, and Bryce Harper connected again on Monday as Washington powered its way to a 6-1 victory for a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.

Zimmerman’s 235th career homer moved him ahead of Vladimir Guerrero for most in Expos and Nationals history. Guerrero quickly tweeted congratulations , saying he doesn’t mind being second.

“It’s special to be in one place your entire career,” said Zimmerman, in his 12th season with the team that made him a first-round draft pick. “You can’t do stuff like this if you’re not in the same place for a long time. So I feel very lucky to have spent my entire career here, honored to have hit more home runs than any Expo or National. It’s 53 53 40 35 39 41 51 58 .576 101⁄2 .564 111⁄2 .440 23 .376 29 cool.”

The Nationals emerged from the All-Star break with an emphatically successful series — 13 homers, including three by Harper, and 35 runs overall by the league’s top offense. It was the Nationals’ first fourgame sweep of the Reds and left them 6-1 against Cincinnati this season.

Washington improved to a season-high 20 games over .500 (56-36) with its ninth victory in 11 games.

The Nationals’ roster got a little better during the series, too. Washington shored up its weak bullpen by getting relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from Oakland on Sunday. They’ll join the team in Los Angeles for the start of a series against the Angels on Tuesday.

“We know we have a good team and we’ve put ourselves in a good spot to start the second half, but we’ve got a ways to go,” Zimmerman said. “Obviously we acquired two talented guys for the bullpen, and we’ll just try to keep scoring runs so that they can come in and lock the games up.” Philadelphia (Velasquez 2-5) at Miami (Conley 2-3), 7:10 p.m.

St. Louis (Wacha 6-3) at N.Y. Mets (Montero 1-5), 7:10 p.m.

Chicago Cubs (Lackey 5-9) at Atlanta (Newcomb 1-4), 7:35 p.m.

L.A. Dodgers (Kershaw 14-2) at Chicago White Sox (Gonzalez 4-8), 8:10 p.m. San Diego (Lamet 3-3) at Colorado (Senzatela 9-3), 8:40 p.m. Washington (Jackson 0-0) at L.A. Angels (Chavez 5-10), 10:07 p.m. Cleveland (Clevinger 5-3) at San Francisco (Blach 6-5), 10:15 p.m.

Wednesday’s games

Chicago Cubs at Atlanta, 12:10 p.m. Philadelphia at Miami, 12:10 p.m. San Diego at Colorado, 3:10 p.m. Cleveland at San Francisco, 3:45 p.m. Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, 7:05 p.m. Arizona at Cincinnati, 7:10 p.m.

St. Louis at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at Chicago White Sox, 8:10 p.m.

Washington at L.A. Angels, 10:07 p.m.