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WASHINGTON -- On his first swing back from a knee injury, Bryce Harper hit a curtain-call home run. Welcome back, slugger. "Typical Bryce right there, hes all about the drama," teammate Jayson Werth said. "He didnt disappoint us, I guess." Harpers first-inning solo shot Monday night was the sparkplug for the Washington Nationals in a 10-5 pounding of the slumping Milwaukee Brewers. It was the 20-year-old Harpers only hit of the night, but the domino effect was real. Werth, unhappily bumped to second in the lineup because of Harpers return, got five RBIs. Starting pitcher Jordan Zimmerman was an unexpected offensive juggernaut with a team-high three hits, including a double to start a five-run third inning and a single to open a two-run fourth. Put it all together and the Nationals had their second runaway win in as many days. After toying with .500 for the entire month of June, Washington moved two games above the break-even mark for the first time since late May. "Its kind of contagious. Everybody knows weve got some work to do," Washington manager Davey Johnson said. "Lets get down to business. Lets get serious." Harper missed 31 games with bursitis in his left knee -- the most lingering fallout from his collision with the Dodger Stadium wall -- and was activated from the 15-day disabled list before the game. Batting third and playing left field, he launched the second pitch he saw, a fastball from Yovani Gallardo (6-8), into the visitors bullpen beyond left field for an opposite-field homer. Harper raised his right arm and pointed to the fans as he finished his familiar sprint around the bases. After lots of high-fives in the dugout, he returned to the top of the steps and gave a thumbs-up curtain call. "I felt like I was back on opening day," said Harper, who homered in his first two at-bats of the season. "I was trying to get something I could drive. I got a pitch I could handle a little bit and put it where I wanted to." The solo shot was Harpers 13th homer of the season and 24th RBI. He hurt his knee in the mishap in Los Angeles on May 13 and reinjured it several times over the following two weeks before going on the disabled list. He went 4 for 11 in minor league rehab games last week. He finished 1 for 4 with a walk on Monday. He slid hard into second base on a double play in the sixth inning, showing no signs of being gimpy in his knee. The Nationals improved to 26-19 when Harper plays; they are 16-21 when he doesnt. He and the teammates made life easy for Zimmermann (12-3), who had an 8-0 lead at one point and pitched six innings. He allowed four runs and tied unbeaten Max Scherzer of the Detroit Tigers for the major league lead in wins. Zimmermann said his night at the plate was better than his night on the mound. He joked about the size of his bat, initially claiming it was 39 inches instead of 34. "I pitch all right," Zimmerman said. "But definitely three hits is awesome." Werths mood, by contrast, was nowhere near jovial, especially for a player with his best RBI game since 2009. He kept reporters waiting for nearly an hour after the game and proclaimed himself "just a grunt out here playing ball." "I dont necessarily like hitting second," Werth said. "But if thats the best for our team, Ive said it before: Last year when I led off, it wasnt personally the best fit for me, but it was the best for our team and thats why I felt like it should have happened. And the same goes for me hitting second now." The Nationals, perhaps finally finding their stride after a middling first half of the season, have won five of seven to pull within six games of the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East. Washington scored a season-high 13 runs on Sunday against the New York Mets. Meanwhile, the Brewers, missing injured slugger Ryan Braun, have lost six straight and are 32-49 at the midpoint of their season. Gallardo struggled for the second straight start. With the Brewers bullpen spent after Sundays 14-inning loss to Pittsburgh, the right-hander was left to fend for himself until he was pulled in the fourth inning. He allowed eight runs, and his ERA rose from 4.20 to 4.78. "You dont expect to see it from Yovani because hes been so consistent through his career, but hes at a point right now where for some reason hes deep in counts to almost every batter," Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke said. "Were 3-2 and hes having to make a great pitch, and you cant survive if you keep doing that." NOTES: Johnson said LHP Ross Detwiler had a good bullpen session and is on pace to start Wednesday as scheduled. Detwiler had stiffness in his lower back after his last start. ... The Nationals optioned RHP Erik Davis to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Harper. ... Brewers RHP Kyle Lohse will make his next start Wednesday on two days rest. Lohse started Sunday, but he went only 1 2-3 innings before a 2-hour rain delay. 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"We havent game-planned either one of these games," Harbaugh said. "The last game, we just looked at them for one day, a little bit what they do, and played what we would call a camp game. Were not trying to scheme anything. Were just trying to get good at the fundamentals and then evaluate our players." Harbaugh intends to play most of his starters into the third quarter. The hope is that they perform better than against Atlanta, when the offence and defence struggled during a lacklustre first half. After watching the Ravens fall behind the Falcons 20-7 at intermission, Harbaugh had a quick analysis of what he just saw. "That first half was about as poorly as we can play," Harbaugh said. "I cant remember us playing worse since we came here." His assessment didnt change much after he had a few days to review the performance. "We didnt play fundamentally very well, and thats the issue," Harbaugh said. "Im not worried about scheme or result as much as how you play. And we put ourselves in a hole too much to even get a look at ourselves. You cant be in first-and-25. You cant turn the ball over. All of those things weve got to do a better job of." Even though the Ravens won both their first two preseason games, the object in this one is to put on a good show for the coaching staff because few, if any, of the starters will be playing against St. Louis next week in the preseason finale. "I think its very important just for us to play well, more so than anything else," offensive co-ordinator Jim Caldwell said. "Any unit that takes the field, we want them to go out there and be in sync, move the ball and put some points on the board. Were looking forward to tthat.dddddddddddd In the third game, typically you end up playing a little bit more. It depends on what John wants to do in that regard, but we want to see our effectiveness and our execution climb up a notch or two." Harbaugh said, "We want to play good, solid football. Weve done that at times but we havent been consistent this preseason so far. Wed like to see that." There will be more players to evaluate this time, because wide receiver Brandon Stokley and tight end Dallas Clark are expected to get extended time after signing contracts last week. Stokley saw limited action last week and Clark did not play. In his two games thus far, quarterback Joe Flacco is 14 for 18 for 175 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Hes still getting used to a receiving corps that is without two of his favourite targets of a year ago, Anquan Boldin (traded) and Dennis Pitta (injured). "Some of the guys are young guys that are new, some of the guys are older guys — like Stokley and Dallas — that hes getting a feel for," Caldwell said. "Hes got his work cut out for him in that regard, but I think you can see them starting to blend and jell." On defence, the Ravens are hoping to get a solid pass rush from Terrell Suggs and newcomer Elvis Dumervil, but defensive co-ordinator Dean Pees will wait until before the Sept. 5 opener in Denver to begin devising a plan to get the most out of the two. "Well find out when the games start getting played for real," Harbaugh said. "Thats when well find out if its what we hoped for. Theyre both the real deal. Suggs is rushing the passer better than Ive seen in the time Ive been here. And obviously, Elvis Dumervil is as good as advertised." On the back end of the defence, top draft pick Matt Elam has been solid. If he continues to show improvement, then the Ravens just might forget about safeties Bernard Pollard and Ed Reed, who became a salary-cap casualties. "Hes fast and hes tough," Pees said of Elam. "Thats what you want in a strong safety. The guy will come hit you. . He still makes the rookie mistakes and stuff that eventually he will get rid of." ' ' '