With the win, Washington (52-85) extended its season-best winning streak to six games and swept the Braves (59-78). The Nats are 6-0 on their current homestand and have scored 58 runs in their last nine games.

“It was only one strike so if they had put [the bunt] back on I would have got the next one,” Boone said. “But in a weird way it turned in my favor because they thought I was still bunting and [Dessens] wanted to stay aggressive. So I got a good pitch to hit.”

Reliever Garrett Mock earned his first career victory. Atlanta led 4-3 when Mock allowed a double, a wild pitch and a walk to put himself in serious jeopardy in the top of the eighth. But he recovered to strike out Yunel Escobar and got Jeff Francoeur to fly out to left. That kept the game close and set up Boone’s heroics.

Meanwhile, Nats right-handed starter Collin Balester pitched through the seventh inning for the first time in 11 major-league starts. In fact, it was Balester’s longest outing of the season, including another 15 starts in the minors at Triple-A Columbus. He gave up just six hits, but one of them was a key three-run homer to Escobar with none out in the fourth inning that put Atlanta ahead 4-2. Balester quickly regained his composure, however. He retired the next eight Atlanta batters and by the time he finished the seventh, had allowed just one double and a walk over the final four innings.

“After the home run, I needed to go back and do what I always do – drive the ball to home plate,” said Balester, who went to his curveball more often in the later innings. “It was a night and day difference from the first three innings to the last four.”

But it seemed too little, too late as Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens handcuffed the Nats through six innings. After an RBI single by Willie Harris in the fourth, Jurrjens retired the next seven Nats batters with only one ball leaving the infield. Reliever Blaine Boyer continued the trend with a perfect seventh.

But Ryan Zimmerman led off the eighth vs. Dessens with a single and Elijah Dukes walked. That brought Boone to the plate. Catcher Wil Nieves, who earlier in the game threw out two Braves baserunners, and Cristian Guzman both added RBI hits to put the game out of reach.

Nats notes

» The Nationals are expected to recall six players from their minor-league system today as Major League Baseball rosters expand.

Infielders Kory Casto, 26, and Alberto Gonzalez, 25, and outfielder Roger Bernadina, 24, have previously been with the team this season. Casto has a .193 average with a home run and 10 RBI in 49 games. He is second on the team with six pinch hits.

Gonzalez, acquired in a July 31 trade with the New York Yankees, was in Columbus on a rehab assignment. He appeared in just four games after the trade, batting .462 before suffering a pulled hamstring on Aug. 4. He has been on the disabled list since Aug. 14.

Bernadina appeared in 10 games with the Nats in late June and early July, batting .125. He split time in the minors between Columbus and Double-A Harrisburg with an overall batting average of .334. Bernadina’s on-base percentage is .400 and he has 23 doubles, nine triples, nine home runs and 54 RBI between the two levels. His batting average in 46 games at Columbus was .349.

The Nats will also add three pitchers, all of whom will be used as relievers. Shairon Martis, 21, was a starter at Harrisburg and Columbus. He had a combined record of 5-6 with a 3.64 ERA in 21 starts and pitched for the Netherlands at the Olympic Games in Beijing last month. Mike Hinckley, 25, was a reliever for Harrisburg and Columbus. Rated the organization’s top prospect in 2005 by Baseball America, Hinckley had a 3.16 ERA in 20 appearances at Columbus. Levale Speigner, 27, was 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in 35 games for Columbus and Harrisburg.