Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Tim Redding threw seven-plus stellar innings, Ryan Zimmerman homered and the Washington Nationals limited the Philadelphia Phillies to one hit in a 1-0 win in the middle contest of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

Redding (1-0) gave up the one hit, a second inning single to Pedro Feliz, walked three and struck out two. Luis Ayala finished up the eighth while Jon Rauch tossed a perfect ninth inning to pick up the save for Washington, which opened a season 3-0 for the first time since 2003, when the club was located in Montreal. Cristian Guzman and Zimmerman both finished 2-for-4.

Cole Hamels (0-1) overcame a shaky start to pitch eight strong innings for the Phillies, who did not have a player advance past first base. The southpaw yielded one run on five hits and fanned six batters in defeat.

"Very good pitched game," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "Their guy did a good job too. (He) threw a lot of fastballs and challenged us."

Both pitchers were dominant on the mound, but the Nationals broke a scoreless contest in the sixth inning on Zimmerman's second homer of the year. On a 1-2 count, Hamels left a fastball up in the zone that the third baseman smacked down the right-field line.

Hamels worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning by getting Paul Lo Duca to ground out to Ryan Howard.

The Phillies never threatened throughout the contest, and Redding retired 14 straight batters after Feliz singled.

Geoff Jenkins walked to begin the bottom of the eighth, but Ayala then came in and induced Feliz and Carlos Ruiz to ground into force plays, and pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs grounded out to end the inning.

In the ninth, Rauch retired Jimmy Rollins on a ground ball, Shane Victorino on a fly to left, and Chase Utley on a grounder to shortstop.