WASHINGTON -- The Nationals opened a split doubleheader against the Braves with a 3-2 win in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park. Washington had not topped Atlanta at home since April 2 in the finale of the season-opening three-game series.

The Nats were paced by right-hander Jackson Rutledge in his first Major League win. The rookie allowed just one run on three hits and two walks over five innings, and he recorded a career-high four strikeouts in his third start with Washington.

Notably in his first career matchup against the Braves, Rutledge limited National League MVP candidate Ronald Acuña Jr. to a 1-for-3 outing. After Rutledge allowed a leadoff single, Jacob Young made a running grab on a line drive to center field in the third inning. Rutledge wrapped his day by catching Acuña swinging at a 95 mph fastball in a full count to end the fifth.

“They’re a really good lineup at adjusting,” Rutledge said. “It’s kind of a cat-and-mouse game of what are they thinking, what am I thinking, mixing pitches a lot. The two-seam and the four-seam thing kind of switched throughout the game based on what they were seeing, what I was seeing. That’s the fun thing about five pitches is that I can manipulate that a lot.”

After the Braves got on the board in the top of the second with a sacrifice fly by Kevin Pillar, the Nationals countered with two runs off small ball. Luis García singled, Jake Alu doubled and Carter Kieboom drew a walk to load the bases against Allan Winans in the bottom of the frame. Jacob Young drove in García on a single to shortstop that was deflected by Winans. In the next at-bat, CJ Abrams plated Alu on a sacrifice fly to center field.

“I’d rather see us hit a double in the game, but we’re not being aggressive right now with guys on base, so we’ve got to think of other ways,” said manager Dave Martinez. “We should have scored some more runs earlier. So we’ve got to figure out ways [of] how to win games here at the end until we get that big hit.”

That big hit -- an RBI double no less -- came in the sixth inning, when Young drove in Alu to add an insurance run. That cushion proved valuable after Kyle Finnegan allowed a two-out solo home run to Sean Murphy in the top of the ninth.

Washington is 27-20 in one-run games, moving ahead of Atlanta for the fifth-best record in the Majors in that category.