players hitting shots to stake the visitors an early 8-0 lead.

WASHINGTON -- Tanner Roark won his fourth straight start, Denard Span had an RBI double and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Sunday for a split of the four-game series between NL East rivals. Span, Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche had two hits apiece as Washington won the final two games of the series. The Nationals improved to 3-7 against Atlanta. They increased their division lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games. Roark (7-4) went 5 1-3 innings, allowing a run and four hits. Craig Stammen came on to end a sixth-inning Braves rally, and Rafael Soriano pitched the ninth for his 17th save. Washington relievers retired all 11 batters they faced. Freddie Freeman had two hits for Atlanta. Evan Gattis went 0 for 3 to snap his 20-game hitting streak. Ervin Santana (5-5) went six innings, giving up three runs and six hits. He walked one and struck out nine. Atlantas Chris Johnson was ejected for arguing a checked-swing call in the sixth. Teammate Justin Upton was ejected for arguing after a swinging strikeout in the ninth. With Washington leading 3-0, the first two Braves reached against Roark in the sixth. Manager Matt Williams visited the mound but left Roark in to face Jason Heyward. Roark got Heyward on a fly to right, but Justin Upton singled home Freddie Freeman to make 3-1. Stammen came on to pitch to Johnson, who attempted to check his swing on a 1-2 pitch. Nationals catcher Sandy Leon appealed the ball call, and first base umpire Tim Welke ruled Johnson had gone around for strike three. Johnson immediately began yelling and gesturing at Welke and was ejected by home plate umpire Mark Carlson. Stammen retired Andrelton Simmons to end the inning. Anthony Rendon made it 4-1 when he doubled in the eighth, went to third on a ground out and scored on Luis Avilans wild pitch. Washington got to Santana in the first, getting and RBI single from LaRoche that deflected off diving shortstop Simmons glove. Ryan Zimmerman had a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Atlanta threatened in the third. With one out, LaRoche misplayed Freemans grounder down the first base line for a two-base error. But Roark got Gattis on a grounder to third, and, after Heyward walked, Justin Upton hit into a fielders choice. The Nationals made it 3-0 the fifth. Sandy Leon opened with a single and Roark sacrificed him to second. Span then lined a double to left, scoring Leon. Span is 6 for his last 11 against Santana. NOTES: Nationals C Wilson Ramos (left hamstring strain) went 1 for 3 with a homer and three RBIs in his first rehab game with Double-A Harrisburg Saturday night. Hes expected to rejoin the Nationals this week. . Freeman began the day as one of only three NL players to start all of their teams games, along with Starlin Castro (Cubs) and Hunter Pence (Giants). . Atlanta is off Monday before opening a 3-game series Tuesday in Houston. . Gio Gonzalez (3-4, 4.85) opposes Matt Garza (4-4, 4.02) Monday when Washington opens a 3-game series at Milwaukee. Cheap Air Max 90 . Showing more spark after not taking enough challenging shots on goal in their 1-0 loss Friday night, the Bruins had 18 shots in the first period after managing just 25 in the entire opener. Luke Glendening cut Bostons lead to 2-1 at 13:20 of the second period before Milan Lucic scored late in the second and Zdeno Chara added a power-play goal early in the third. Cheap Air Max 90 Wholesale . It will mark the 22nd time the tournament has been held in this country and fourth in Atlanta Canada but will make its first appearance ever in played Nova Scotia. http://www.airmax90clearance.com/ . -- Canadian Erik Bedard pitched into the fifth inning in his bid to win a spot in Tampa Bays rotation, helping the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 on Saturday. Cheap Air Max 90 For Sale . When Reyes signed a US$106-million, six-year deal with Miami last month, there was speculation Ramirez was unhappy about being supplanted at short. But new manager Ozzie Guillen sold Ramirez on the idea. Wholesale Air Max 90 .The rookie goalie made 36 saves to help the Calgary Flames blank their Pacific Division rivals 1-0 on Saturday following a 48-hour ordeal that included lost baggage, a cancelled flight and a new pair of contact lenses.Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - It wasnt pretty, but Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers grinded out a 93-90 win over the short- handed Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday. Paul missed a pair of free throws that could have made it a three-point game with 13.8 seconds remaining, but he went to the ground to secure the rebound on Sebastian Telfairs miss at the other end and Griffin sank two from the stripe. It was 91-88 with 5.8 seconds left when LA fouled Nick Collison intentionally to prevent the Thunder from getting off a look from 3-point range. He hit two as well, then J.J. Redick restored the three-point margin with his pair with 2.8 seconds to play. Without any timeouts, Thunder center Steven Adams inbounded to Serge Ibaka near mid-court. Ibaka took two dribbles and lined up a deep triple, which missed short as the final buzzer sounded. Opening nights are tough. We won but we didnt play well, said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. I didnt like our tempo. We have to play at a better pace. Griffin showed off an improved jumper on his way to 23 points and Paul tallied 22 with seven assists to edge out a Thunder unit that hardly resembled the team that took the Spurs to six games in the Western Conference finals after knocking the Clippers out of the playoffs a season ago. Reigning league MVP Kevin Durant had foot surgery and will miss the early portion of the season. The Thunder also traveled to Los Angles without guards Reggie Jackson, Jeremy Lamb and Anthony Morrow and rookie big man Mitch McGary. Russell Westbrook joined the walking wounded after leaving in the second quarter with a small fracture in his righht hand.dddddddddddd Its unfortunate, the way it is right now but its the way it is, Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. We have to figure out how to continue to improve. Instead of Durant and Westbrook, who averaged a combined 53.8 points per game last season, it was third-year forward Perry Jones totaling a career-high 32 points to keep things competitive. Ibaka added 17 points and Telfair scored 11 with seven helpers off the bench. The Thunder started 4-for-4 from the field, with four different players hitting shots to stake the visitors an early 8-0 lead. Griffin settled down the Clippers with a pair of free throws, but Ibaka scored eight straight Thunder points to keep them in front. Paul split a pair at the line later in the period to make it 22-20. Again the Thunder responded, this time with four straight Jones free throws. OKC led 28-22 after one. Jamal Crawford heated up early the second, scoring nine of LAs first 14 points in the period. His triple at 7:46 gave the Clippers their first lead. Jones scored five straight late in the period to put the Thunder back in front, but LA scored eight of the final 10 points in the half to take a 46-41 lead into halftime. Oklahoma City locked down defensively in the second half to stay in the game and give itself a chance late. Game Notes This was the first regular season game for new Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who purchased the team for a record $2 billion this offseason ... Crawford scored 16 points off the bench ... OKC won the rebounding margin, 47-33, but doubled LAs turnovers, 22-11. ' ' '