Washington: Washington essentially put to rest any thought that there is still a serious race for the National League East title by beating nearest rivals Atlanta 6-4 on Tuesday, opening a nine-game divisional lead and also damaging the Braves’ wild-card ambitions.

By contrast, the American League Central fight is as close as can be after Detroit beat Kansas City to leave the teams effectively even for top spot, with the Royals ahead on percentage with one less win but also one less loss than the Tigers.

Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Dodgers were beaten at home by San Diego and saw their NL West lead trimmed, NL Central leaders St. Louis also lost, against Cincinnati, and Baltimore kept up their inexorable march toward the AL East title by beating Boston.

Washington’s Adam LaRoche singled in a four-run first inning and added another RBI single in the second. LaRoche is 9-for-19 with four home runs and 12 RBIs in his past six games.

Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann (11-5) allowed two earned runs with seven strikeouts and no walks in six innings. He hasn’t lost a decision since July 11 and is 5-0 — and the Nationals are 8-0 — in his past eight starts.

Detroit won 4-2 at home against Kansas City, with the key moment coming in the fifth inning as Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam.

Scherzer (16-5) allowed one run in 6-2/3 innings. Kansas City were down 3-1 in the fifth when Alex Gordon’s big hit to right went just foul with two on. A walk loaded the bases with one out, but Salvador Perez lined out and Eric Hosmer struck out.

Rajai Davis and J.D. Martinez homered for the Tigers, who will go for a three-game sweep, and the divisional lead, on Wednesday.

San Diego arrested a six-game losing skid by winning 6-3 at the Dodgers, with Andrew Cashner pitching seven strong innings to win for the first time since mid-April.

Cashner (3-7) allowed two runs after going winless in 11 outings.

Jedd Gyorko hit a two-run homer for the Padres, who had scored a sum of just 12 runs over those six losses but bounced out to a 5-0 lead in the third inning.

The Dodgers had their four-game winning streak snapped, and their NL West lead was cut to 2-1/2 games over San Francisco.