The bright spot for the Washington Nationals this season has been their pitching. Their hitting, even with up-and-coming superstar Bryce Harper, has been lagging behind, not providing much run support. Luckily, Jordan Zimmermann and the rest of the Washington pitching staff have been up to the task this season. Tonight he'll have to bounce back from his first loss in nearly a month. With tonight's game, Zimmermann attempts to become the NL's first to win 8 games as Washington starts a three-game series with the division rival Philadelphia Phillies.

The Nationals (24-23) have scored 31 runs over the last 12 games (averaging less than 3 a game), but they were able to pull out a 2-1 win against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday to stop from losing 5 straight. But Zimmermann (7-2, 1.62 ERA) hasn't really needed much support. He only allowed two runs over eight frames in a 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres Saturday. The first run was on a solo homer by Yonder Alonso. The second was only due to a throwing error by Zimmerman.

"It was a good pitch, it was up," Zimmermann said of the pitch to Alonso. "You can't really complain about that. The throwing error I made down the line cost us. If I don't make that, we're still out there playing."

Thursday will surely be beneficial for Bryce Harper, who was inuring while making a diving catch in the eighth inning Wednesday. Earlier last week, he ran into the outfield wall at full-speed in Los Angeles. But that hasn't slowed him down, as he hit his 12th homer and scored both of Washington's runs against the Giants.

If you're outside of the Washington and Philadelphia viewing areas, you can check the game out tonight at 7:05 ET, by tuning in to MLB.tv for live audio or video.