Washington, DC (Best E Casino) - Carlos Beltran homered twice, and the New York Mets hung on for a 9-7 win over the Washington Nationals in the third- game of a four-game set.

The Mets nearly blew another late lead, as the Nationals fought back from six runs down after six innings to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but New York held on to end a three-game losing streak and hold on to the lead in the NL wild-card race.

The Mets own a half-game lead over Milwaukee for the NL wild card. The Brewers defeated the Chicago Cubs, 6-2, on Wednesday. The Mets kept pace with the Phillies, who downed the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, in the NL East. New York is a half-game behind first-place Philadelphia, but tied in the loss column with the Phillies.

Brandon Knight (1-0), in a spot-start for the Mets, gave New York five solid innings, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and four walks for his first career win. The Mets are working around the absence of right-hander John Maine, who has been sidelined since late August with a bone spur in his right shoulder.

Right-hander Shairon Martis (0-3), in his third career start, was roughed up for six runs on five hits in just three innings, with four strikeouts and two walks. Elijah Dukes hit a two-run homer, and Wil Nieves went 3-for-5 and knocked in two runs for the Nats, who had won 10 of 11 in Washington prior to the loss.

Trailing 8-2, the Nats made things interesting off the scuffling Mets bullpen. Alberto Gonzalez' pinch-hit RBI single in the sixth and Dukes' two-run homer in the seventh cut the deficit to 8-5. Beltran answered in the eighth, though, with his second homer of the game, this one from the right side of the plate. Beltran's 26th homer of the season put the Mets back up by four runs.

Ryan Zimmerman came within a few feet of a three-run homer for Washington in the eighth, but instead it went for a long, loud fly out to center to end the inning, stranding runners at the corners.

Down to the last strike in the ninth against Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano, Nieves singled to right on a 1-2 count, driving in two runs and bringing former Nationals pitcher Luis Ayala on. Ayala struck out pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina to end the game, and pick up his eighth save.

The Mets jumped on top with two solo shots in the first. Jose Reyes led off the game with a line drive out to right-center, his 15th, and Carlos Delgado went deep to center three batters later, his 36th.

Kory Casto's RBI double in the second briefly pulled the Nationals within one run, but New York plated four runs in the third. Daniel Murphy had an RBI triple, Delgado drove him in with a single, and Beltran's two-run homer to right put the Mets up 6-1.

Reyes' RBI single in the fourth pushed New York's lead to 7-1. Emilio Bonifacio singled in a Washington run in the home half of the frame to again make it a five-run game.

The Mets restored their six-run lead in the sixth when Argenis Reyes scored on pinch-hitter Marlon Anderson's double-play grounder.

Game Notes

The Nats outhit the Mets 14-10, but left 11 runners on base...Despite the loss, Washington is 7-4 against the Mets during the last two Septembers...Delgado, who went 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series, went 2-for-4, drove in two and scored twice...David Wright went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, and committed a throwing error to start the ninth inning. Wright is 1-for-13 in the series with six strikeouts.