tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to ov

MILWAUKEE -- Adam LaRoche was struggling so much at the plate, he decided to try something different. So he grabbed teammate Jayson Werths bat. The move paid off as LaRoche hit his 15th home run of the season in the sixth inning to help lead the Nationals to a 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Prior to the home run, Washingtons first baseman had just one hit in his previous 28 at bats. LaRoche said Ian Desmond suggested he try Werths bat as Werth was hitting .337 in his last 51 games. "My bat has not been feeling very good lately so why not give someone elses a try," LaRoche said. "I got a pitch I could hit and I was able to drive it." Desmond, who batted after LaRoche, also used Werths bat, but he flied out to leftfield. "Maybe we should just leave Jasons bat up there for everyone to use," LaRoche said. The other key to the game for the Nationals was the continued strong pitching of Dan Haren. He went seven strong innings, giving up just four hits, with six strikeouts and two walks. Tyler Clippard pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth inning to earn his 28th save in 32 chances. The only inning that Haren struggled was the first as he gave up a leadoff double to Rickie Weeks. Weeks moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Haren struck out Jean Segura, but walked Jonathan Lucroy. He got Carlos Gomez to pop out to short to end the inning. It was the second straight strong outing for Haren (6-11) as he allowed one run and three hits in seven innings of a 4-1 win over the New York Mets on July 27. Prior to that, Haren had not won a game in more than two months as the Nationals had lost his previous 11 starts. Haren went 0-8 with a 6.18 ERA in that stretch. Haren was on the disabled list in early July with a sore right shoulder and said the rest did him good. "Going on the disabled list gave me a chance to regroup," he said. "I wanted to leave the first part of the season behind and help the team try and get back into the race." Nationals manager Davey Johnson said Haren has a lot of pride and wanted to help the team win. "He threw a bunch of pitches early, but really settled down," Johnson said. "Hes been throwing very well for us." Johnson said Werth left the game in the sixth inning after injuring his groin. Werth is not expected to play Sunday, but Johnson said he hopes to play him on Monday against Atlanta. Donovan Hand (0-3), making his sixth start of the season, gave up three runs on five hits for the Brewers. Milwaukee lost its third straight game and has only scored one run in the first two games of the series. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said it was another game of wasted opportunities. "When we get these opportunities, we need to figure out a way to get those guys in," he said. "We didnt have a lot today but when we do have the opportunity (in the first inning) -- and at that point a ground ball to the infield scores the guy --we have to find a way to put it in play. " The Nationals took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Werth singled to start the inning and scored on Anthony Rendons sacrifice fly as he slid around the tag from Lucroy. Wilson Ramos seventh home run of the season in the fifth inning boosted Washingtons lead to 2-0. LaRoches home run in the sixth inning closed out the scoring. Notes: Roenicke said LHP Tom Gorzelanny is expected to miss at least one start after being struck on his pitching elbow by a line drive Friday night. ... The attendance for the first two games of the series was 70,514, meaning the team handed out $705,100 in vouchers for food and merchandise. The team is handing out $10 vouchers to every fan that attends a home game in August as a result of slugger Ryan Brauns suspension for the rest or the season. ... Brewers RHP Kyle Lohse (7-7) will pitch the series finale Sunday against the Nationals RHP Taylor Jordan (1-3). Cole Aldrich Jersey . But the quarterback hopes to stay involved in football after officially calling it quits Tuesday. "Id love to look at those opportunities as they arise," Pierce said in an interview from his Winnipeg eatery. Cheap Timberwolves Jerseys Authentic . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. http://www.cheaptimberwolvesjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-justin-patton-jersey .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. Anthony Brown Jersey . As the crowd erupted, Davis knocked the ball off the glass and back into his hands. With 1:14 to go in overtime, Davis sixth block also became his 17th rebound. That, along with his 32 points -- which tied a career high -- proved too much for Denver to overcome, and the Pelicans held on for their third straight victory, 111-107 on Sunday night. Jamal Crawford Jersey . "Were just throwing s--- at the wall hoping something sticks," said Tortorella about the possible line combinations for Fridays game against Columbus. The Canucks have lost five straight games and six of their last seven, leaving them in a logjam in the Pacific Division, currently sitting fifth - good for ninth in the Western Conference. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia has been known for its defense for years. So far the Mountaineers offense has been putting on quite a show.Esa Ahmad tied a career-high with 14 points, Nathan Adrian added 12 and the No. 19 Mountaineers cruised to a 100-41 victory over New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon. This is West Virginias first back-to-back games with over 100 points since the 1996-97 season.The Mountaineers (3-0) started off a little stale in the opening minutes, trailing the Wildcats (2-2) 4-1 after 1:52, but then went on a 22-2 run over the next 6:30 to take a commanding lead midway through the first half.Included in that 22-2 run was an impressive play by Jevon Carter with a little over 12 minutes to play in the first half. Just as the ball was about to go out of bounds, Carter somersaulted in the air with the ball and tossed it to Teyvon Myers who was there for the dunk.I was just playing hard, said Carter. I didnt know that he would be there. Were just taught to throw it back under the basket when were going out of bounds.West Virginia ended the game with another run in the second half outscoring New Hampshire 36-9 in the final ten minutes.Ahmad led six Mountaineers in double figures. Lamont West had 13 points, Adrian and Jevon Carter had 12 and both Teyvon Myers and Tarik Phillip had 11.I feel like I have been aggressive (in the first two games), said Ahmad. I definitely see myself taking more of a leadership role. Along with JC (Carter) Nate (Adrian), of course you look at those guys as leaders but I definitely look at the role too.West Virginia also continued its heavy press presence, scoring 47 points off of 34 New Hampshire turnovers.Yeah, (New Hampshire head coach) Billy (Herrion) is a really good coach and they are really good in half-court if you saw their Templle game, said Huggins.dddddddddddd They make adjustments, they make great reads on screens and we try not to let people run what they want to run and we were pretty successful at it today.Iba Camera had a double-double for New Hampshire with 10 points and 12 rebounds.The thing you really look at is how hard youre competing and we did not compete nearly as hard as you need to compete against a team that plays as hard as they do, said New Hampshire head coach Bill Herrion. Thats why the spread was what it was. Thats why we lost by what we lost by.BIG PICTURENew Hampshire: The Wildcats shot 30.4% from the field against West Virginia. This is their third straight game scoring below 36% from the field.West Virginia: The Mountaineers continue to dominate with their press, but their performance at the foul line is very inconsistent. WVU shot 55% after shooting 73.7% against Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 14POLL IMPLICATIONSWith West Virginias dominant performance over the last two games, and losses by both No. 13 Michigan State and No. 15 Purdue, look for the Mountaineers to gain a spot or two in the AP Top 25 on Monday.FRESHMEN PHENOMSLamont West led six West Virginia freshmen with 13 points. Four of these six freshmen saw more than 10 minutes on the court and accounted for 35 points and 17 rebounds.PRESS VIRGINIAWest Virginia forced 34 New Hampshire turnovers, the second-most opponent turnovers in WVU school history (36 against VMI on Nov. 26, 2014). The Mountaineers have scored 107 points off of 81 turnovers so far this season.UP NEXTNew Hampshire hosts Detroit on Wednesday.West Virginia takes on Illinois in the NIT Season Tip-Off in Brooklyn on Thursday. ' ' '