Washington, DC (My Sportsbook) - Elijah Dukes hit a three-run homer and the Nationals cruised to a 7-2 victory over the New York Mets in the first of four games at Nationals Park.

John Lannan (9-13) was superb, allowing only one run on one hit and three walks in seven innings while striking out seven.

Lastings Milledge finished up 3-for-4 with two runs scored while Ryan Zimmerman scored twice for the Nationals, who snapped a five-game losing streak.

Pedro Martinez (5-5) labored through six innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and four walks, with three strikeouts, to take the loss.

Jose Reyes drove in two runs while Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo scored runs for New York, which has dropped two straight.

"It's one of those games where you can look at a lot of different things and say we didn't do very well," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "We didn't hit, we didn't pitch as well, we didn't relieve, and when it looked like we were coming back we hit into a double-play. It was just a bad game, period, for us."

With the loss, the Mets are now only a half-game ahead of the surging Philadelphia Phillies for the top spot in the NL East. The Phillies, who are also tied with Milwaukee for the NL wild card lead, will begin a three-game series at Atlanta on Tuesday.

Washington moved back out in front in the fourth as Milledge led off with a double and scored on Aaron Boone's RBI single.

The Nats got some insurance runs in the sixth. Zimmerman singled and one out later Dukes walked. After both runners advanced on a groundout, Anderson Hernandez drove them in with a single to right for a 4-1 advantage.

Dukes put the game out of reach, blasting a three-run homer in the seventh off Duaner Sanchez to give the Nationals a 7-1 cushion.

The Mets made it 7-2 in the eighth on a Reyes RBI single, scoring Castillo, who had doubled.

The Nationals got on the board in the first. Willie Harris walked, and Cristian Guzman singled him over to third. Zimmerman grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but Harris was able to score for a 1-0 lead.

The Mets tied it up in the third. Schneider doubled to lead off and moved to third on Martinez's sac bunt. Reyes followed with an RBI groundout to plate the runner.

Game Notes

New York leads the season series 10-5...The loss snaps the Mets five-game winning streak against the Nationals...Dukes' homer was his 12th of the season.