Yes, the Braves put on a clutch-hitting clinic in an 8-5 victory at Turner Field, brushing aside the winless Nationals and setting up an intriguing matchup between early National League East co-leaders Atlanta and Florida in a three-game series beginning Tuesday at Turner Field.

"Clutch hits are big, and we got plenty of those," said manager Bobby Cox, whose Braves have won five of six games in series wins at Philadelphia and against Washington. "It's good to get off to a [fast] start. You get off to 1-5 instead of 5-1 or something, it's hard to get back up."

The Braves , who lost 12 of 18 to the Nationals in 2008, handled them this time, capping an eventful three-game series --- a six-hour, rain-delayed game Friday, and Kenshin Kawakami's debut win Saturday --- by scoring five runs Sunday on two-out rallies in the fourth and fifth innings.

"If we score seven or eight runs with our pitching, we're going to win a lot of games," said right fielder Jeff Francoeur, who snapped out of his hitting funk with two triples.

With closer Mike Gonzalez unavailable after pitching Friday and Saturday, setup man Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his first save.

Brian McCann sparked a three-run, two-out rally in the fourth with a walk and the Braves' first stolen base of the season. The catcher has five steals since the 2008 All-Star break, making him the unlikely leader among current Braves in that period.

Rookie Jordan Schafer offset a three-strikeout day with two sensational catches in center field.

The afternoon did not come without concern --- Chipper Jones aggravated his left-hand injury, and Tom Glavine left an injury-rehab start in Class AA with soreness in his surgically repaired shoulder. Glavine's status won't be known until after he has been reevaluated.

Jones was cautiously optimistic about being fit to play against the Marlins.

"Hopefully, I'll be ready to go," said the third baseman, who hit run-scoring singles in the fifth and seventh innings to raise his average to .400. "We'll see how it feels Tuesday."

Jones was a late scratch Wednesday at Philadelphia, the Braves' only loss. He had bruising around the left thumb and index finger from being jammed by a pitch near the end of spring training.

He felt it again Sunday in the seventh inning, when he hit a single that drove in the second run of the inning to push the lead to 7-4. Omar Infante and Yunel Escobar had doubles earlier in the inning, the only inning the Braves scored with less than two outs.

Jurrjens (2-0) got the win despite blowing the 3-0 lead he was staked to in the fourth. The Braves got three consecutive two-out RBI hits in the inning from Matt Diaz, Francoeur and Martin Prado.

They regained the lead with two runs in the fifth on two-out hits by Jones and McCann.

Jurrjens was charged with five hits, four runs (three earned) and five walks in 5 1/3 innings, including three runs in the fifth to give the first lead back.

"When your team gives you a lead like that, you're supposed to cruise and help the bullpen out," Jurrjens said.

"But [winning] is the important thing. We just need to keep winning series."

NEXT FOR Braves

* Who: vs. Marlins

* When: 7 p.m. Tuesday

* TV; radio: WPCH; 640 AM; 96.1 FM