WASHINGTON -- A bases-loaded walk to Elijah Dukes in the bottom of the 10th inning helped the Nationals edge the Braves, 9-8, at Nationals Park on Saturday night.

The game was tied at 8 when hitting coach Lenny Harris saw Braves reliever Vladimir Nunez enter the game to start the inning. Harris warned his hitters that Nunez throws a lot of breaking balls.

The warning helped, because that's when Washington started its rally. Anderson Hernandez led off with a walk and went to second on a passed ball by catcher Brian McCann. Cristian Guzman then put runners on first and third when his liner tipped Martin Pardo's glove for a hit. The Braves decided to load the bases by walking Ryan Zimmerman intentionally.

It looked like Washington was going to score quickly, but that would not be the case. Suddenly, the Nationals were not patient at the plate. Nunez threw a steady diet of breaking balls to Lastings Milledge, who struck out on four pitches.

Ronnie Belliard came to the plate and hit the second pitch he saw from Nunez, a shallow fly ball to center field that did not advance the runners.

Dukes was the last shot in the inning. He remembered what Harris told him about Nunez. However, Dukes fell behind, 1-2, in the count. Four pitches later, he drew the walk to send Hernandez home, and was seen pumping his chest as he was going to first base.

"I'm always proud of walks. I love walks. That's my motto -- a walk is as good as a hit," Dukes said. "I got two walks today. It shows that you don't always have to get a hit. You can walk sometimes to beat a team, too.

"Anything close, I was going to try and make a good swing on it -- at least foul it off and get another pitch. That's what I was doing. ... I figured he was going to attack me with [breaking balls]. They know I can hit a fastball, so they try to throw the breaking ball. I'll take the walk."

At first, it looked like Washington was going to have a long night. Right-hander Jason Bergmann lasted 4 1/3 innings and gave up six runs on eight hits. His worst inning came in the third, when eight batters came to the plate and Atlanta scored four runs.

"I didn't have good command. ... Today was not a fun day for me," Bergmann said.

However, the Nationals sliced the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth off left-hander Jo-Jo Reyes when Hernandez singled to right to bring home Dukes and Ryan Langerhans.

After Bergmann gave up solo home runs to McCann and Prado in the fifth inning to make it a 6-2 game, the Nationals poured it on against Reyes and Buddy Carlyle. Reyes exited after giving up consecutive singles to Zimmerman and Milledge, and Carlyle entered the game and allowed an RBI double to Belliard.

Dukes then walked to load the bases, and Jesus Flores cleared them with a double to tie the game at 6. For Flores, the hit snapped an 0-for-21 drought.

"It has been very hard for me, because I've been hitting well all season. And then I'm in a slump," Flores said. "But tonight, I had the opportunity to break that situation. The key was that I stayed positive. I'm working hard every day to find a way to get out of the slump. I think I've finally found it."

Hernandez then sent Flores home with a single to center to take the lead. Washington added insurance off Jeff Bennett in the sixth inning, when Belliard brought Milledge home with a single.

"They did a very good job battling back," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "We fell behind 6-2. They have been playing with a lot of confidence of late. Right now, they are flying high. They think they can come back. Our offense is clicking."

But Atlanta would tie the score by the top of the eighth. In the seventh inning, left-hander Charlie Manning gave up a solo home run to Chipper Jones. In the next inning, Saul Rivera gave up an RBI double to Gregor Blanco, a play the Braves could have gone ahead on, but Flores tagged out Josh Anderson at the plate trying to score.

The Nationals have won five straight games, seven of their last nine, and have improved their record to 51-85. Washington is now eight games behind Atlanta and they have a fighting chance to get out of last place in the National League East.

"I just want to win as many games as possible and continue to get better, especially with our younger kids," Acta said. "Do I want to finish in last? Everybody knows I don't want to finish in last."