WASHINGTON – Mark Hendrickson and Jorge Cantu helped the Florida Marlins complete their first three-game road sweep of the Washington Nationals.

Hendrickson pitched seven strong innings, Cantu produced three hits and two RBIs and Florida beat Washington 4-3 on Thursday night to stretch the Nationals’ losing streak to seven games.

The Nationals scored a run in the eighth, charged to reliever Logan Kensing, and another in the ninth off closer Kevin Gregg, when Josh Willingham leaped at the wall but the ball popped out of his glove for what was ruled an RBI double by Nick Johnson.

Then, with two on and one out, Gregg got Paul Lo Duca to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end it and earn his second save.

Hendrickson (2-1) gave up one run and three hits, striking out two, while matching his longest outing since going eight innings on June 25, 2006, for Tampa Bay. He didn’t have any walks, after totaling six in his first two starts this season.

The Marlins, who finished last in the NL East in 2007, have won five of six games to improve to 6-3 atop the division. The Nationals are headed in the opposite direction, going from 3-0 to 3-7.

The 6-foot-9 Hendrickson, who played for four NBA teams over four seasons, was downright dominant for a stretch Thursday. After allowing hits to the first two batters in the third inning – Ronnie Belliard’s leadoff homer that made it 1-0, and Felipe Lopez’s infield single – the lanky lefty got down to business.

It helped, perhaps, that the next hitter was opposing pitcher Odalis Perez, who was asked to sacrifice Lopez over but bunted into a forceout at second. That began a string in which Hendrickson retired 13 batters in a row, and 14 of his last 15, the only lapse coming when he hit Johnson in the back in the seventh. The Nationals failed to capitalize, however, because Austin Kearns grounded into a double play.

There were signs of trouble for Perez (0-2) in the fifth, when he allowed two hits but got out of it thanks to a double play. Things got worse in the sixth, though. Hanley Ramirez led off with a double, then tied the game by coming home on Jeremy Hermida’s single.

An out later, Perez gave up a single to Mike Jacobs and was done for the night. Cantu greeted reliever Saul Rivera with a tiebreaking RBI double, and Cody Ross walked to load the bases. But Rivera got Matt Treanor to ground out.

Perez’s line: 5 2-3 innings, two runs, six hits, six strikeouts. Not spectacular, maybe, but it was the first time in the series that Washington’s starter departed with fewer than seven runs on the board for Florida.

Notes: Nationals minor league OF Kory Casto (Triple-A Columbus) is expected to be out six weeks with a broken right wrist bone. He was injured Wednesday night. … Nationals closer Chad Cordero (shoulder tendinitis) could come off the DL as soon as Sunday. He’s scheduled to make a second rehab appearance at Class-A Potomac on Friday. … Hendrickson singled leading off the seventh inning – matching his hit total for all of 2007, when he was 1-for-27 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

AP-ES-04-10-08 2215EDT