The right-hander gave up three runs before recording his eighth out, but Kawakami settled down and pitched six solid innings in the Braves' fourth win in five games to start the season.

The Nationals remained winless in five games and have a nine-game losing streak dating to last season. They've also lost 18 of their past 21.

Kawakami, a 33-year-old "rookie" who spent 11 seasons in the Japanese Central League, was charged with four hits and three runs in six innings, and he had four walks and eight strikeouts.

He walked two in the first inning and two in the fourth, but Kawakami otherwise avoided the control issues that had plagued him in a seven-walk, eight-out stint in an exhibition game against Detroit a week earlier at Turner Field.

Kawakami kept Nationals hitters guessing with his repertoire of 91-mph fastballs, cutters, sliders and slow curveballs. The one costly mistake was a first-pitch fastball that Ryan Zimmerman belted for a two-run homer and 3-0 lead in the third inning.

The star of the game for the Braves was their leadoff hitter, Johnson, who has picked up where he left off in his hot-hitting final month last season. He started the third inning with a home run and added a two-run, two-out double to drive in the first runs of the Braves' three-run fourth inning.

Braves reliever Peter Moylan, who had failed to record an out in his first two appearances, pitched a perfect seventh inning with three strikeouts Saturday, an encouraging sign for a Braves team that entered with the best starters' ERA in the National League and the worst relievers' ERA.

Setup man Rafael Soriano ran into some trouble in the eighth after a leadoff double and a one-out walk. But he induced an inning-ending double-play grounder by Nick Johnson to preserve the 4-3 lead, and closer Mike Gonzalez pitched a perfect ninth to convert the Braves' first save opportunity.

After Johnson's double and Chipper Jones' RBI single in the fourth, Yunel Escobar pushed the lead to 5-3 with a two-out RBI single in the eighth, right after Johnson was hit by a pitch in the shoulder.

All of Johnson's hits came against Nationals starter John Lannan (0-2), continuing the left-handed hitter's unusual trend of hitting better against lefties than he does against right-handers.

Johnson raised his average from .278 to .364 and doubled his RBI total to six, sharing the team lead with Brian McCann.

He finished the 2008 season with a torrid September stretch of hitting, and now Johnson has a .397 average with 18 extra-base hits (five homers) and 25 RBIs in his past 29 games, including 17 wins for the Braves .

He is 6-for-12 with two homers against lefties this season, and 2-for-10 against right-handers. Last season, Johnson hit .270 against right-handers and .333 against lefties --- second-best in the majors among qualifying lefty hitters.

NEXT FOR Braves

* Who: vs. Nationals

* When: 1:30 p.m. today

* TV; radio: Fox Sports Net; 640 AM, 96.1 FM