Nationals vs. Blue Jays: Bryce Harper, Adam LaRoche stake surging Washington to three-game lead in NL East TORONTO - It is hard to fathom now: If the Washington Nationals" season had unfolded how they expected, Bryce Harper would still be a minor leaguer. The Nationals planned to give Harper at least 250 plate appearances before they summoned him to the majors. He had 82 at Class AAA Syracuse before injuries made him the chosen contingency plan. He has taken 168 as a major leaguer - a total of 250, right at his intended target. "He's not going back," Manager Davey Johnson said, laughing at the obviousness of the statement. Monday night, Harper's three-hit game bulwarked another workhorse performance from Edwin Jackson, lifting the Nationals to a 6-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, their fourth straight and sixth in their past seven games. With the Atlanta Braves" loss to the New York Yankees, the Nationals surged into first place by three games, their largest lead of the season. Jackson allowed two runs over eight-plus innings, facing one batter in the ninth before exiting after 108 pitches.Adam LaRoche blasted a two-run, upper deck homer, and Rick Ankiel iced the game with a solo shot after coming into the game as a defensive replacement. But Harper again attracted every eyeball in the stadium. He went 3 for 4 with a walk, raising his batting average to .295. In t he latter innings, the Rogers Centre crowd serenaded the 19-year-old with, "Haaaar-Perrr." He did not react. Harper leads the Nationals in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging since his call-up. And yet, Harper has not betrayed a whiff of satisfaction. After his first walk-off hit last week, Harper fumed at going 2 for 7. "He doesn't think he's done anything, in his mind," Johnson said. He's still striving to get comfortable. Late Monday night, Jackson again made a walk he alone among Nationals starting pitchers has made. Jackson trotted to the mound to pitch the ninth inning, to finish what he started. The Nationals top their rotation with two of the most explosive pitchers in baseball, which makes it easy to overlook the most durable. For all the firepower at the top of their rotation, Jackson has perhaps been the Nationals" best starter for almost a month. In his last five starts, Jackson has a 2.21 ERA. The Nationals signed Jackson to his one-year, $11 million deal to devour innings and be a reliable workhorse. He leads them with 801 / 3 innings, and he has produced more quality in his quantity than the Nationals could have expected. Jackson has career-bests in walks per nine innings (2.5) hits per nine (6.5) and ERA (3.02). The key has been his efficiency. Jackson entered Monday night with the fewest pitches per nine innings of any major league starter. After he got into trouble in the first, Jackson leaned on pounding the strike zone and blazing through quick innings. Colby Rasmus, the second batter of the game, launched a home run into the upper deck. Jackson needed 24 pitches to escape the inning. But then he settled. He needed only 40 to get through the next four. At one point, Jackson retired nine in a row. Stephen Strasburg's overwhelming velocity and Gio Gonzalez's preposterous curveball make you forget Jackson's gifts - a 95-mph fastball and a hard, biting slider that dips straight down.