Washington, DC -- (Sports Network) - Cristian Guzman finished 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Washington Nationals to a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a three-game series.

Lastings Milledge homered while Collin Balester worked five-plus innings and earned the win for the Nationals, who won for only the third time in their last 17 games overall. Balester (3-6) allowed one run on five hits with two walks.

Nomar Garciaparra scored the only run for the Dodgers, who have dropped five straight games and seven of eight overall. Manny Ramirez went 3-for-4 in the loss.

Derek Lowe was the hard-luck loser. Lowe (10-11) pitched eight strong innings and yielded two runs on six hits with six strikeouts.

The Dodgers remain three games behind Arizona in the NL West.

"It was another one of those tough games," said LA manager Joe Torre. "Derek Lowe pitched his tail off and it was certainly a winnable game, but we just couldn't get it done."

After Milledge led off the bottom of the second inning with his 13th home run of the season, the Nationals made it 2-0 in the home third. Emilio Bonifacio singled, moved to second on a bunt by Balester, headed to third on a groundout by Willie Harris and scored on Guzman's base hit.

The visitors cut their deficit in half in the fifth due to an out-of-control Balester, who plunked both the leadoff batter Garciaparra and Casey Blake. With two runners on and no outs, Balester then walked Lowe to load the bases and a grounder by Matt Kemp allowed Garciaparra to cross the plate. Balester settled down and got two straight outs thereafter -- a fly out by Andre Ethier and a Jeff Kent groundout.

In the sixth, LA failed to cash in a golden opportunity to tie the score. Ramirez ripped a leadoff double and James Loney followed with a single. With runners on the corners, Marco Estrada entered from the Washington bullpen and saw Russell Martin reach first safely on an infield grounder that included a throwing error by Ryan Zimmerman.

"We had a number of opportunities and couldn't cash in," Torre added.

With the bases loaded, Garciaparra lined into a double play before Estrada fanned Lowe to elude any damage.

Nats relievers Steven Shell and Saul Rivera worked a pair of scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, respectively, before Joel Hanrahan came on for the ninth. Blake singled with one out and Hanrahan issued a walk to pinch-hitter Mark Sweeney, but Kemp flied out to center field and Ethier grounded out to give Hanrahan his fifth save of 2008.

Game Notes

LA has dropped seven straight road games...Lowe lost to the Washington franchise for the first time in his career (5-1)...Despite the loss, the Dodgers are 11-2 in their last 13 games versus Washington...The Dodgers outhit the Nationals, 7-6...The Nats turned four double-plays...Attendance was 26,110.