Nationals 3, Orioles 1: Edwin Jackson allowed one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings and Adam LaRoche homered as visiting Washington won the middle contest of the three-game set.

Jackson (4-4) struck out five and walked one while improving to 6-1 against Baltimore. He gave up three of the four hits in the seventh.

Michael Gonzalez entered with two on and one out and retired Ronny Paulino on a double-play liner. Sean Burnett allowed one hit during a scoreless eighth and Tyler Clippard tossed a perfect ninth for his 12th save.

Washington plated two runs in the second when Xavier Nady beat out an infield single and third baseman Wilson Betemit’s poor throw to first allowed the second to score.

LaRoche took Orioles starter Wei-Yin Chen (7-3) deep to lead off the fourth with his 13th homer of the campaign to make it 3-0.

Jackson didn’t allow his first hit until the fifth inning when Betemit hit a one-out single. He lost his shutout in the seventh when Adam Jones lined his 19th homer of the season over the left-field fence.

Chen gave up three runs (two earned) and six hits in five innings.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Baltimore released 49-year-old Jamie Moyer at the pitcher’s request. Moyer had gone 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA in three starts at Triple-A Norfolk since joining the organization … Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was hitless in four at-bats and is just 5-for-48 over his last 12 games … Betemit had two hits and is batting .404 (23-for-57) in his career against Washington … Washington shortstop Ian Desmond was hitless in four at-bats to end an eight-game hitting streak … Chris Davis of the Orioles went 0-for-4 to stretch his streak of hitless at-bats to 28.