Washington, DC (Best E Casino) - Johan Santana turned in a brilliant performance on the hill and Brian Schneider clubbed a pair of solo home runs, as the New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals, 7-2, to salvage a split in the four-game set.

Ryan Church collected two hits and knocked in two runs for New York, which has won two straight and remains just a half-game behind Philadelphia for the NL East lead. The Phillies edged the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, on Thursday. Jose Reyes had two hits and an RBI for the Mets, who are 1 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee in the wild card standings. The Brewers lost a heartbreaker to Chicago, 7-6, in 12 innings earlier Thursday.

Santana (14-7) allowed one run on eight hits in seven innings, with eight strikeouts and two walks. The southpaw is 7-0 in his last 15 starts and has allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of those outings.

"Johan pitched extremely well," New York manager Jerry Manuel said. "Every time he got in trouble, he worked his way out of it."

Wil Nieves finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for the Nationals, who have dropped seven of their last nine games. Tim Redding (10-10) was victimized for five runs -- four earned -- on seven hits in a season-low three innings. Jason Bergmann gave up two runs in two innings of relief.

New York grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Reyes slapped a double to left to begin the contest and Daniel Murphy followed with a sinking liner that center fielder Lastings Milledge misjudged. The ball bounced in front of Milledge, who slipped slightly on the play, and rolled all the way to the wall. The error allowed Reyes to score easily and Murphy to reach third, where he was stranded after Redding retired the next three batters.

The Mets added two more runs in the second. Redding got two quick outs before Schneider drilled a 2-0 pitch over the wall in right field. Santana then doubled and scored on a Reyes base hit. A two-out triple by Carlos Beltran in the third plated Carlos Delgado, who walked in the previous at-bat, and gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. Church then drove in the Mets' fifth run with an RBI single.

Bergmann took over on the mound in the fourth, and Schneider hammered the right-hander's first pitch over the right-field fence. New York tacked on another run in the fifth. Delgado doubled down the right-field line to open the frame, took third on a Beltran groundout and scored on a base hit by Church.

Anderson Hernandez's RBI double put the Nationals on the board in the seventh. An RBI single by Nieves in the eighth accounted for the final margin.

Game Notes

New York leads the majors with 134 first-inning runs...Santana has not lost since June 28 against the Yankees...Washington's Ryan Zimmerman had three hits...Schneider recorded his second career multi-home run game...New York captured the season series, 12-6...The Nationals left 11 men on base, while New York stranded six.