WASHINGTON --- Bobby Cox sat in his chair, his post-game victory cigar lit and watched a game on television.

Just minutes after he watched Javier Vazquez throw a complete game to keep his Atlanta Braves' flickering wild card hopes alive, Cox was rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Braves began Friday night 31/2 games behind Colorado for the NL wild card, and after Vazquez stifled the Washington Nationals with a three-hitter in Atlanta's 4-1 win, Cox had his eyes on the Cardinals-Rockies game.

"They need to beat those mountain boys up a little bit," Cox said before the Rockies prevailed 2-1.

Cox could relax because he watched Vazquez throw his third complete game of the season and second in three starts. Vazquez (15-9) allowed a leadoff home run to Josh Bard, his sixth, in the eighth inning. Vazquez also gave up a leadoff single to Willie Harris in the first and a one-out double to Ryan Zimmerman in the fourth. He retired 11 in a row between Zimmerman's double and Bard's homer.

Vazquez, who won his fifth consecutive start, struck out seven and walked one. He is 10-2 since July 7.

"Nowadays, there are not a lot of complete games," Vazquez said. "When I'm on the mound, I want to throw eight, nine innings."

The Braves have won four in a row and 12 of 14.

"It's important for us to win every game from now on because Colorado is ahead," Vazquez said. "We're playing great defense."

While the Braves are playing great defense, the Nationals are not. Three of Atlanta's four runs were unearned. The fourth came on Martin Prado's homer in the ninth.

On Thursday, Washington became the first National League team in 35 years to lose 100 games in consecutive seasons.

John Lannan (9-13) allowed two unearned runs in seven innings for the Nationals, who lost for the 101st time -- one shy of last year's total. Lannan threw a season-high 122 pitches, losing for the fourth time in his past five starts. He allowed six hits, walked three and struck out six and refused to blame his team's shoddy defense.

"It's going to happen, it just happened all together," Lannan said.