Ryan Zimmerman's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning scored Willie Harris with the winning run, lifting the Washington Nationals to a 2-1 victory over the New York Mets on Thursday.

The Nationals trailed 1-0 for most of the night after the Mets took the lead on Ike Davis' RBI single in the first before Johan Santana held it there until surrendering Nyjer Morgan's RBI single in the seventh to even things up.

Pedro Feliciano (2-4) took the loss, loading the bases in the ninth before Ryota Igarashi allowed Zimmerman's sacrifice fly as the Nationals grabbed the opener of the four-game set.

Santana allowed just the one run on six hits and struck out seven in seven innings, but the Mets' lack of run support for their ace continued. They have scored a total of one run in his last three starts.

Nationals starter Livan Hernandez matched Santana with seven strong innings, allowing one run on seven hits and striking out seven.

Matt Capps (1-3) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win after Washington entered play having dropped six of seven contests.