Nats welcome Mets to D.C.

Young lefty Ross Detwiler can continue a recent streak of game weekend series with the New York Mets.

A 25-year-old native of St. Louis, Detwiler has made six starts in 11 overall appearances this season, including five in a row since coming out of the bullpen in Washington's 3-0 defeat of the Mets on July 30.

In that game, Detwiler pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings and allowed a single hit. He's tossed 9 1/3 innings against the Mets in his career and allowed one run on nine hits with a walk and five strikeouts.

In five straight starts since facing the Mets, Detwiler is 1-4 but has pitched six innings or more three times and allowed three runs or less four times.

He's tossed a combined 28 2/3 innings, in fact, and surrendered 33 hits and 13 runs with nine walks and 20 strikeouts, posting a respectable earned run average of 3.14 in that stretch.

The Mets start 36-year-old journeyman R.A. Dickey, who's dropped four of six decisions in his last 10 starts.

The former first-round pick was on the short end of the 3-0 verdict with the Nationals on July 30 after allowing three runs on six hits in six innings.

He's 1-2 in five starts since, but comes off his best outing of that period, a 2-1 defeat of Florida on Aug. 29 in which he pitched seven scoreless innings while allowing seven hits and striking out seven.

The Mets are 5-5 in his last 10 starts and Dickey is 1-3 in his career against the Nationals with a 4.14 ERA.

On Thursday in New York, David Wright and Lucas Duda both drove in a pair of runs as the Mets beat the Florida Marlins, 7-5, in the finale of five-game series at Citi Field.

Miguel Batista (4-2) tossed six solid innings in his Mets debut, limiting Florida to two runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts to record his 100th career win.

New York signed the 40-year-old right-hander to a minor league deal in July after he was released by the St. Louis Cardinals.

In Atlanta, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones both hit solo home runs to back six solid innings from Tim Hudson, as the Braves earned a 5-2 victory over the Nationals in the rubber match of a three-game series.

Chien-Ming Wang (2-3) lasted 5 2/3 innings, surrendering four runs on seven hits to suffer the loss.

Jayson Werth hit a home run for the Nationals, who have dropped eight of their last nine games.

The Mets own a slim 6-5 edge in the season series with the Nationals.