Miami, FL (Sports Network) - Ronnie Belliard clubbed a grand slam to aid Collin Balester's first major-league victory, as Washington downed Florida, 9-6, at Dolphin Stadium.

Balester (1-0) gave up just one run and one hit with three walks and three strikeouts over five frames in his major-league debut. The 194-pound right- hander was effectively wild in tossing 95 pitches.

"Got the win in my first start and I'm pretty excited about that," said Balester. "I'm just going to let it all soak in and see how it goes."

Felipe Lopez went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Elijah Dukes homered for Washington, which snapped a six-game skid to the Marlins.

Mark Hendrickson (7-7) took the loss after yielding six runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts over six frames. Hanley Ramirez homered and drove in a career-best five runs for Florida, which came into the night with an opportunity to take over first place in the National League East.

"I felt there were some good pitches there and they (Nationals) just happened to get hits," said Hendrickson.

However, Philadelphia beat Atlanta, 8-3, on Tuesday to extend its advantage to 1 1/2 games in the division.

The Nationals put the first run on the scoreboard courtesy of Dukes, who pulled a 1-0 curveball high over the left-field scoreboard and into the seats for a solo home run in the fourth.

Washington doubled its advantage one inning later as Lopez's single drove home Paul Lo Duca, who doubled to begin the frame. The Marlins minimized the damage as Josh Willingham threw out Lopez at the plate to end the inning.

Balester walked back-to-back batters in the home half of the fifth, and Ramirez's sacrifice fly scored Robert Andino for a 2-1 game.

The fireworks commenced in the top of the sixth.

Three straight singles by Cristian Guzman, Dukes and Delmon Young loaded the bases with nobody out. Belliard saw 1-0 change-up and drove it out of the ballpark to left for a grand slam and a 6-1 edge.

Florida answered with a three-spot just after stretch time. Matt Treanor singled to start the frame and Alfredo Amezega was hit by a pitch. Ramirez then hit a three-run shot out to left field.

In the see-saw affair, the Nationals came back with three more runs in the top of the eighth. Dukes singled and Belliard walked with one out. Lo Duca followed with a base hit to fill the bases and Kory Casto's chopper forced Mike Jacobs into a throwing error, scoring Dukes for a 7-4 game. Lopez and Willie Harris hit successive run-scoring singles to grow the advantage to 9-4.

Amezaga and Ramirez hit run-scoring singles in the eighth and the fighting Fish brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth. However, Jon Rauch induced a Luis Gonzalez fly out with two runners on to end the game. Rauch recorded his 17th save in the process.