The Washington Nationals took advantage of some suspect defense and pushed their way back to .500 with a 2-1 home victory over the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

Danny Espinosa and Jerry Hairston Jr. each contributed an RBI single for the Nationals (37-37), who have won 10 of 11 to reach .500 for the first time since May 11. Washington has not been at .500 this late in a season since finishing the 2005 campaign with an 81-81 mark.

Erik Bedard (4-5) was dominant for the Mariners, striking out 10 and yielding three hits in six innings, but was charged with a pair of unearned runs to suffer his first loss since April 20.

The Nationals got on the board in the first inning when Chone Figgins made an error with two outs and Espinosa pushed a run across. They turned the same trick in the fourth, getting Espinosa to third base on an overthrow by Miguel Olivo and scoring him on Hairston’s hit.

John Lannan (5-5) surrendered one run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings to grab the win and Drew Storen worked the ninth for his 18th save.

Olivo drove in the lone run for Seattle.