Stephen Strasburg pitched six innings for his National League-leading 18th win, and the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Thursday, completing a rare five-game sweep of their division rival.

The Nationals (90-69) maintained their one-game lead over Milwaukee for the top National League wild card as the streaking Brewers (89-70) defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 early Thursday.

Michael A. Taylor had three hits, including a home run, and Asdrubal Cabrera homered and doubled for Washington.

Andrew Knapp and Cesar Hernandez each had two hits, including a homer, for the Phillies, who have lost six straight.

Strasburg (18-6) allowed one run on four hits over six innings. He didn't walk a batter and struck out 10, setting a personal high for strikeouts in a season (251), topping the 242 he recorded in 2014.

Daniel Hudson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his eighth save.

In his final start of the season, Philadelphia's Jason Vargas (7-9) allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits and five walks over 4 1/3 innings. He fanned three.

Phillies shortstop Jean Segura left the game in the fifth inning due to an ankle injury.

The Nationals got a run in the first when a double steal put runners on second and third before Cabrera hit a sacrifice fly.

They made it 2-0 in the second on Taylor's first home run of the year, but the Phillies (79-80) pulled within 2-1 when Hernandez led off the fourth with his 13th homer.

In the fifth, Washington's Anthony Rendon walked with one out, and Cabrera doubled him to third. After Ryan Zimmerman walked, Vargas was lifted in favor of Edgar Garcia, who walked Yan Gomes to force in a run.

Garcia struck out Taylor but then unleashed a wild pitch, allowing Cabrera to score Washington's fourth run. Moments later, Zimmerman scored on a passed ball by Knapp, and it was 5-1.

Cabrera's homer made it 6-1 in the seventh. Knapp's two-run homer off Javy Guerra in the eighth pulled the Phillies within 6-3.

--Field Level Media