Nationals rally for 5-3 win over Braves

WASHINGTON — A mammoth milestone home run by Adam Dunn was upstaged by his simple single that helped Washington rally to beat the Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta’s Tommy Hanson extended his scoreless innings streak to 26 before Dunn hit his 300th career homer and the Nationals rallied for four eighth-inning runs and a 5-3 victory Saturday.

“That 300th home run would have been hard to talk about. It would have been a useless home run if we hadn’t won the game,” said Dunn, whose RBI single off Eric O’Flaherty in the eighth inning snapped a 3-all tie.

Hanson departed with a 3-1 lead after seven innings and was in line for his fifth straight victory before the Braves bullpen blew up, halting Atlanta’s winning streak at a season-high five.

“It was remarkable,” Nationals manager Manny Acta said.

Atlanta’s Mike Gonzalez (3-1) loaded the bases with one down in the eighth on a pinch-hit single by Ronnie Belliard and two walks before Peter Moylan relieved and yielded a tying two-run single to Ryan Zimmerman. O’Flaherty replaced Moylan and was greeted by Dunn’s decisive single up the middle on the first pitch he threw.

Josh Willingham followed with an RBI single to left.

“That’s the most frustrating part right now,” Gonzalez said. “I could really care less about how I did. Tommy goes out there and does such a great job, and obviously our offense is doing really well. We’re playing really good ball. Hopefully this doesn’t put a chink in what we’re doing right now.”

Atlanta’s bullpen had a 3.98 ERA and had retired 167 of 243 first batters faced (69 percent) before Saturday’s implosion.

“It’s been terrific. I don’t think we’re ever due (for a bad game), but it happens. You’re not going to be perfect all the time,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said.

Nationals starting pitcher John Lannan allowed three runs and nine hits in eight innings, ending Washington’s losing streak at four games. The left-handed Lannan (6-5) walked one and struck out one.

Mike MacDougal worked the ninth for his fourth save, escaping a two-on, one-out jam.

Hanson, who was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on June 7 to make his major league debut, took a no-decision in that game and has yet to lose. He allowed only Nick Johnson’s single to center in the first and a second-inning infield hit by Anderson Hernandez in the first six innings.

The right-hander walked one and struck out five, lowering his ERA to 2.25 in a 105-pitch outing.

Acta said Hanson deviated from the video scouting report the Nationals had on him, not hurting himself with walks and failing to fall into pitch patterns hitters could recognize.

When asked what was working for him, Hanson said: “I think everything. I felt good with all my pitches and my command of everything. I was just trying to keep them off balance and it worked out.”

Dunn hit his milestone blast leading off the seventh, crushing a 2-2 fastball deep into the second deck in right field to ruin Hanson’s shutout bid. The 29-year-old is the fifth player in major league history to reach that total in less than 4,200 at-bats, succeeding in his 4,145th at-bat. The others are Babe Ruth (3,830), Mark McGwire (3,837), Ralph Kiner (3,883) and Harmon Killebrew (3,928).

U.S. Army Col. William Sanders caught the ball and returned it to Dunn. He asked for nothing in return, but the former Chattanooga Lookout gave Sanders an autographed jersey and two autographed baseballs and told Sanders to call him if he ever wanted tickets to game.

The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the third on Nate McLouth’s RBI single. Brooks Conrad led off with a single to center, moved to second on Hanson’s sacrifice bunt and scored when McLouth blooped a single over second base.

In the sixth, McLouth drew a leadoff walk and Martin Prado followed with a double to left before consecutive RBI singles to center by Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson made it 3-0.

Washington is 3-2 on July 4 since moving from Montreal before the 2005 season, winning three straight on Independence Day.