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Chad Billingsley took a three-hitter into the eighth inning, as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Friday night.

Billingsley (10-9) allowed two runs and five hits over 7 2/3 innings. The righty allowed just two runs to the Nats on the night, a Willie Harris sac fly in the third and a Ryan Zimmerman RBI-single in the eighth. With two outs in the inning, Zimmerman, 6 for 16 in four games since returning from the disabled list, cut the Dogers' lead to one run.

Jonathan Broxton sealed the Dodgers' win with a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

Lannan, 7-9, allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings. In his first career start against the Dodgers, the southpaw took a three-hit shutout and 1-0 lead into the sixth before Los Angeles loaded the bases with none out.

Lannan was pulled for pinch-hitter Ryan Langerhans in the eighth and received less than two runs of support for the 10th time in 20 starts this season.

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Nats GameBlog:
Hanrahan, pitching for Lannan, stuck out Kemp and Martin before getting Kent to fly out to Milledge in center to end the inning.

Broxton struck out Flores swinging to end the Nats' half of the inning and hold on to the Dodgers' one-run lead.

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Ryan Zimmerman single cuts Dodgers' lead to one run:
Zimmerman singled to center, scoring Langerhans to make it a one-run ballgame.

Kearns singled to right, sending Zimmerman to second, and the Dodgers bring in Jonathan Broxton to pitch the remainder of the 8th.

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Billingsley walks Lanagerhans, pinch-hitting for Lannan in the top of the 8th, bringing Willie Harris and the top of the order to the plate.

Harris grounds out to Garciapara, sending Langerhans to second.

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Quick 7th sees lead stay at 3-1 Dodgers heading into 8th:
Milledge and Lo Duca grounded out to start the inning, and Lopez lined out to Kemp, preventing the Nats from starting any sort of rally to re-take the lead in the 7th. Dodgers still lead 3-1.

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Bottom of the 6th:
Lannan struck out Andrew Jones on a check swing to end the inning, but with runners on first and third in the bottom on the 6th, Loney grounded out, scoring Martin from third to make it 3-1 Dodgers.

Lannan looking to get out of trouble:
After throwing five shutout innings of four-hit ball, Lannan has begun to struggle with his control in the 6th. After hitting Martin with a pitch to load the bases with no outs, Kent lined out to Guzman for the first out of the inning. But Garciaparra singled to center, scoring Pierre and Kemp and sending Martin to third to make it a 1-2 ballgame.

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Top of the 3rd, Nats take the lead:
Paul Lo Duca and Felipe Lopez singled to left in that order. Lannan sacrificed to advance Lo Duca to third and Lopez to second. Willie Harris then hit a sac fly to center to score Lo Duca and send Lopez to third. Cristian Guzman struck out to end the inning with the Nats leading the Dodgers 1-0.

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Nats-Angels underway in Los Angeles:
Pierre grounded out; Kemp lined out to left, and R.Martin grounded out.

Harris struck out; C.Guzman popped out to shortstop Garciaparra. Zimmerman flied out to center fielder An.Jones.

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Game Preview
Nationals (38-64) at Los Angeles (49-52)
The Nationals, losers of three straight, continue their 9-game road trip with a weekend series in Los Angeles.

Washington is 2-4 on the current road trip and looks to get back to winning ways. Yesterday, they wasted a complete game, seven-hitter by Tim Redding and lost 1-0 to San Francisco and dropped their third straight game..

Tonight, John Lannan goes for his third consecutive win, while Chad Billingsley looks to end the Dodgers two-game skid.

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Starting Lineups

Nationals
LF Willie Harris
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
RF Austin Kearns
C Jesus Flores
CF Lastings Milledge
1B Paul Lo Duca
2B Felipe Lopez
P John Lannan

Dodgers
LF Juan Pierre
RF Matt Kemp
C Russell Martin
2B Jeff Kent
SS Nomar Garciaparra
1B James Loney
CF Andruw Jones
3B Andy LaRoche
P Chad Billingsley

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Pitching Match-Up

LHP John Lannan (6-9, 3.29) is going for the first 3-game winning streak of his young career. Lannan has been outstanding all season, but lack of run support leaves him three-games under .500.

In his last two starts, he has given up one run on nine hits in 12 innings. The Nationals have finally backed him with some offense, scoring eight and five runs respectively. Among qualified starters, Lannan is still getting the lowest run support in the Majors: 2.72 runs per game.

In his last start, July 19 at Atlanta, Lannan gave up a run-scoring single to Chipper Jones for the only run he'd allow in the Nationals' 8-2 win. He tossed six innings of seven-hit ball, all singles.

Lannan allowed a base runner in each inning vs. Atlanta, but he showed his maturity and guts by battling through each frame, buckling down and working out of trouble. He threw 106 pitches, 61 for strikes, walked three and struck out four.

This is the 12th start on the road for Lannan. He's 4-4 with a 2.44 ERA, compared to 2-5 with a 4.71 ERA in eight home starts.

Lannan has never faced the Dodgers in his career.

RHP Chad Billingsley (9-9, 3.32) went into the All-Star break winning five of six starts. His first outing after the break wasn't bad, just not good enough to pick up the win.

He gave up three runs on seven hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings in the Dodgers 3-2 loss to Arizona. Billingsley fell to 0-3 vs. the Diamondbacks this season.

During the five wins in six starts, Billingsley gave up 10 runs in 38 2/3 innings, a 2.33 ERA. He's been blowing opposing hitters away at a rate of more than one an inning with 46 K's during that stretch.

Billingsley is undefeated in his career against the Nationals. He is 2-0 with a 2.77 ERA. At Dodger Stadium, Billingsley is 5-4 with a 3.84 ERA.

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