ATLANTA _ R.A. Dickey snapped out of his recent funk and Arodys Vizcaino bounced back from one of the worst performances of his career in resounding fashion Thursday night.
Dickey limited the Nationals to two runs and four hits in eight innings and Vizcaino struck out the side in the ninth to finish a 3-2 Braves win in the finale of the next-to-last home series of the season.
Ozzie Albies had three hits and drove in a run for the Braves, who snapped a four-game skid, avoided a series sweep and finished with a 9-10 record in the season series against the Nationals after going 9-29 against them over the previous two seasons.
Dickey (10-10) took a two-hitter and a 3-1 lead to the eighth inning, when Anthony Rendon led off with a double to end a streak of 12 consecutive batters retired by the knuckleballer. Two outs later, Matt Wieters lined a run-scoring single to left to cut the lead to a run before Dickey got pinch-hitter Wilmer Difo on fly-out to left field to end the inning.
Vizcaino had three strikeouts in the ninth, one night after issuing three bases-loaded walks to the only batters he faced in a 7-3 loss that was his first blown save in 10 chances since taking over as closer at the beginning of August.
It was the second time that Dickey lasted more than seven innings this season, the other on Aug. 30 when he limited the Phillies to one run on seven hits and a walk with a season-high nine strikeouts in eight innings. That was the only win for Dickey in his past six starts before Thursday, a rough ride in which he was 1-3 with a 6.55 ERA and allowing four or more earned runs in all but one outing and lasting five or fewer innings in each of his past three starts.
That slump came immediately after Dickey's best stretch of pitching all season, 10 starts from June 19 through Aug. 13 in which he was 4-2 with a 2.12 ERA, .230 opponents' average and only four homers allowed in 63 2/3 innings including six or more innings in nine of 10 starts. In five of the six games he didn't win in that period, the Braves scored two or fewer runs while he was in.
The Aug. 30 game at Philadelphia was the only time in the past month where Dickey had a good feel for his knuckleball until Thursday, when he had it dancing again.
The Braves got a run in the first inning when Ender Inciarte led off with a triple off the Nationals' Tanner Roark and Albies followed with an RBI single past first baseman Ryan Zimmerman. Inciarte left Tuesday's game after four innings and missed Wednesday's game due to lingering thumb soreness, and Albies left Wednesday's game in the eighth inning after being hit by a pitch in the left shin, the same spot where he was hit the previous week.
Neither showed any residual effects of those bruises and the Braves had a 1-0 lead. But it didn't last long.
Zimmerman led off the Nationals' second inning with a line-drive home run on a chest-high knuckleball, Zimmerman's career-best 34th homer and the 19th homer allowed by Dickey in 18 starts at SunTrust Park. He had quickly given up the lead, but Dickey would give up almost nothing else the rest of the night.
After the Zimmerman homer, Dickey retired 17 of the next 18 batters including all 12 in the fourth through seventh innings. The only runner to reach base against him after the home run was Trea Turner on a two-out single in the third inning, and Dickey promptly picked him off at first base to end the inning.
The Braves, meanwhile, regained the lead in the fourth inning after a leadoff single from Albies, who advanced to third base on an errant snap-back pickoff throw from catcher Matt Wieters that got past Zimmerman. Freddie Freeman followed with a sacrifice fly for the lead, and Nick Markakis doubled and scored on Johan Camargo's two-out single to push the margin to 3-1.
Roark got into a groove after consecutive two-out singles from Camargo and Lane Adams in the fourth inning, getting Dansby Swanson on a fly to center to begin a stretch in which the right-hander retired 10 of 11 batters, with only Dickey reaching on an error in the fifth inning during that period.
