Nolasco (3-5), whose career-high for strikeouts in a game is 16, allowed one run on five hits and one walk. He threw 74 of 110 pitches for strikes. The right-hander had lost three straight starts coming into Sunday's game.

Nolasco will head back to the hill Saturday against the Chicago White Sox. Nolasco is 7-10 with a 5.35 ERA in 19 career interleague starts.

Pittsburgh combined for a three-hit 1-0 shutout as Harrell took the loss to fall to 3-5 on the year. Harrell was sharp as he allowed just the one run on four hits and a walk over seven excellent innings. He struck out three and his only mistake was surrendering a solo homer to Pedro Alvarez in the fifth inning. 

Harrell has lost three straight decisions since winning three in a row. That said, he's allowed one earned run in six of his 10 starts this season. He's allowed two or fewer runs in seven of his 10 outings. Unfortunately, he's also allowed five or more runs in each of his other three starts. 

Harrell makes his next scheduled start Saturday against Oakland. 

"I think he's gotten into a better rhythm with our pitchers. He has a better understanding," said Girardi. "He's been able to watch them a few times. He's gotten back there with I think almost everybody at this point. I think he's just getting more comfortable."

Romine is batting .182. He's been seeing more time of late with Francisco Cervelli on the DL and Chris Stewart battling a recent injury. 

The Nationals were hopeful Werth would have come off the disabled list this week, but his delay was because he visited with a specialist in New York.

"They worked the hamstring very well," Rizzo said. "They found out how they wanted to work it. In doing all that work on it, they flared it up. Hopefully, it’ll make it better in the long run. But they flared it up so he didn’t want to play the next day in the minor leagues. We’re having him rest today, and he’ll start ramping up baseball activities this week."

Detwiler might not make his following start either, but Thursday's off-day gives the team flexibility and it can keep Detwiler off the DL.

"We’re hoping he does pitch," Rizzo said of Detwiler returning to action May 26 vs. Philadelphia. "We don’t have to call up a pitcher, a starter, from the minor leagues. We’re hoping Ross can take the next start. If not, we can skip his start and guys are still on regular rest."

But the Nationals would need Detwiler to be ready by May 28 in order to avoid Jordan Zimmermann pitching on short rest.

"In essence, we’ll have 10 or 11 days until that spot needs to pitch again," Rizzo said. "We think Ross will be OK by then."

Aviles has hit in three-straight games and has gone 5 for 11 with two doubles, a homer and three runs scored over that stretch. He's batting .292. 

Brantley, batting .301, went 2 for 4 and scored twice. He has 19 RBI and two homers over 153 at-bats. 

Masterson has won three straight and has given up three runs over that 23-inning span with 27 Ks. He makes his next start Friday at Boston.

The starter entered the outing after being cleared during the week following his last outing against the Yankees when he tweaked his back. Hernandez had the shortest outing of his season as he threw 107 pitches over five innings, though it doesn't appear he was limited by the back.

Hernandez fell to 5-3 with a 2.07 ERA as he allowed six runs -- five earned -- on eight hits and two walks. He struck out eight. King Felix gave up two runs in the first inning and was down 5-0 after two as he allowed a three-run home run to Michael Brantley. Sunday marked the first time since April 11 that Hernandez allowed more than an earned run in any outing.

The 27-year-old snapped a four-game winning streak Sunday and will look to start another winning streak Saturday against Texas.

"There's a couple things I've had trouble against lefties with, and I've just been trying to eliminate that and not even worry about that," Johnson said to MLB.com. "It's been working. I've just got to continue focusing on going up the middle and going the other way."

Johnson entered the season with a career .283 average against right-handed pitchers and a .255 average against left-handers. He's now batting .277 in his career against lefties.

"I think I used to just feel more comfortable with lefties out there, rather than having to face a tough righty," Johnson said. "I'd be like, 'Oh, I feel so good, I'm going to homer off this guy.' Then the next thing you know, I'm 0 for 4."