A blow-out would have made a statement, but holding on to beat the Nationals 7-6 on Friday might have been a better way for the Braves to open the second half.

The team, which went 5-22 in one-run games before the All-Star break, is 1-0 in such games after it.

ALLEN SULLIVAN / aesullivan@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

Brent Lillibridge, who drove in two runs, scores in the sixth on a hit by Kelly Johnson.

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The Braves got multiple clutch hits and just enough runs at a time when they need to win any way they can to stay in contention and keep their cleanup hitter, Mark Teixeira, through the July 31 trade deadline.

"It's interesting we start the second half that way, considering how bad we were in the first half at those kind of games," said Kelly Johnson, whose RBI single in the sixth became the game-winner. "Maybe that's exactly what we needed, a sign that things are going to change and start falling our way."

The Braves led by four runs twice but watched the Nationals chip away at Tim Hudson, who gave up five runs in 6 2/3 innings to the team he had allowed three runs in three April starts.

"The sinker was moving a lot, and I didn't have real good command of it," said Hudson, who still moved to 8-1 with a 1.57 ERA in 12 career starts against them. "It was one of those things, kind of effectively wild for a while. ... It's not a game I'm real happy about personally, but a win is always a great thing for this team, especially nowadays."

The Nationals cut the lead to 7-5 thanks to two extra-base hits just inside the first-base foul line — a double by Austin Kearns in the sixth and a triple by Ryan Langerhans in the seventh.

Trying to hold the lead in the ninth, Mike Gonzalez gave up two hits, a run and hit a batter before escaping with his fourth save since returning from elbow surgery.

He preserved his streak of 34 consecutive saves dating to August 2004 by getting Austin Kearns to line out.

"That's what happens when you don't throw for three days over the All-Star break," Gonzalez said. "Today was definitely the worst day I've felt since Tommy John [surgery]. It felt a little rusty. I'm glad I got that one out of the way. If that was the worst one, and I still got it done, I'm fine with that."

Brian McCann cleared the bases with a three-run double in the third inning for the big hit, but the Braves did some little things, too.

They advanced the runner (McCann's flyout to right to move Teixeira in the second), they executed the hit-and-run (Chipper Jones and Gregor Blanco in the second), they stole bases (two by Kelly Johnson) and even Hudson got a hit.

Brent Lillibridge continued what he started before the break, with his third consecutive multihit game in place of the injured Yunel Escobar. He was 2-for-4 with two RBIs to make him 7-for-12 in his past three games, with three doubles, a home run and five RBIs.

"Lilli has played great ever since he's been here," manager Bobby Cox said. "He's starting to hit now. And he's made all the plays at short."

The Braves still showed glimpses of their first-half selves — failing to score with a runner at third and less than two outs twice, but both times the next hitter came through.

The first of those was Lillibridge on a two-out, two-run double in the second inning. An inning later Mark Kotsay came through with a two-out RBI hit to give the Braves a 6-2 lead.

"We had a lot of clutch hits and that's what we want to see the second half," Cox said. "Just like that."