Giants 7, Nationals 1: Michael Morse had three hits and scored twice to back seven stellar innings from Tim Hudson as host San Francisco averted a four-game sweep.

Hunter Pence went 3-for-3 and reached base five times, Tyler Colvin and Brandon Crawford each had two hits and an RBI and Hector Sanchez drove in a pair for the Giants, who improved to 7-0 in Hudson's home starts. Hudson (7-2) lowered his ERA to a major league-leading 1.81 by allowing an unearned run on six hits to boost his career record against Washington to 17-5.

José Lobatón had a pair of hits and Ryan Zimmerman added a run-scoring single for the Nationals, who lost for only the third time in 13 games but remained one game ahead of Atlanta atop the National League East. Rookie Blake Treinen (0-3) absorbed the loss despite limiting San Francisco to two runs on five hits over five innings.

Colvin tripled home Morse and scampered home on Crawford's groundout in the second inning to stake Hudson to a 2-0 lead before the Nationals got a run back in the fourth on Zimmerman's two-out RBI single - a run made possible by catcher Buster Posey's passed ball. The Giants failed to score on a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the fourth but extended their lead against reliever Craig Stammen in the sixth.

Pablo Sandoval led off with a single and moved to third on Morse's third hit before scoring when Stammen committed a balk, and Morse eventually came around on Crawford's infield hit and Gregor Blanco's pinch-hit RBI single. San Francisco broke in open on Sandoval's sacrifice fly in the seventh and Sanchez's two-run single in the eighth.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Giants SS Crawford is 12-for-27 during his eight-game hitting streak. ... Nationals 1B Adam LaRoche, who scored Washington's only run, has hit safely in six straight games. ... The Giants continue their 10-game homestand Friday when NL West rival Colorado arrives for a three-game set while Washington wraps up a 10-game trek with three in St. Louis.