ATLANTA --- The Washington Nationals completed a dismal season with a glimmer of hope. The Atlanta Braves finished a promising year with a brutal final week.

Alberto Gonzalez came through with two-out, run-scoring single in the 15th inning and Washington closed its 103-loss season with a seven-game winning streak, beating the Braves 2-1 on Sunday.

Playing the longest game since the franchise moved to Washington from Montreal before the 2005 season, the Nationals became the first team in baseball history to close the season with seven consecutive wins after losing the first seven.

Atlanta, which got within two games of the wild-card lead with six remaining, finished with a season-high six-game skid. Logan Kensing (1-2) earned the win with two scoreless innings, striking out Brooks Conrad on a checked swing for the final out with runners at second and third.

"It was a crazy game," said Chipper Jones, who led off the eighth with a pinch-hit single to break an 0-for-19 slump and finished the worst season of his career with a .264 average. "We gave the fans a little extra baseball to remember us by."

If only the Braves could forget the past six days.

Atlanta revived its playoff hopes by winning 15 of 17, but two disheartening losses to the Florida Marlins ended the Braves' hopes. They were swept in a four-game series by hapless Washington to finish an 86-76 season -- still a 14-win improvement on 2008, but third in the NL East behind Philadelphia and Florida.

"We just didn't play well the last four games of the year," Jones said. "We expended a lot of energy getting to that point. Once we had a letdown, it was pretty evident."

The Braves jumped ahead in the sixth on Nate McLouth's 20th homer off J.D. Martin, who went six strong innings. Washington tied it in the seventh, stringing together three consecutive hits off Tim Hudson. Pinch-hitter Adam Dunn had an RBI single.

Hudson went seven innings, allowing one run and seven hits in what could be his final game for the Braves. He has a $12 million mutual option for next season.