PHILADELPHIA -- Denard Span's bunt attempt bounced off the tip of home plate and skied in front of Carlos Ruiz.

Kyle Kendrick, charging toward the plate, began to shout.

"Two, two, two," the pitcher said as he pointed to second base.

With ease, Ruiz fired where his pitcher pointed and Jimmy Rollins tagged out Washington pitcher Jordan Zimmermann. The shortstop then tossed over to first as Span hardly ran down the line. He thought for sure his bunt was foul.

Instead it was a double play and Kendrick's third inning was all but over.

A little luck helped the righthander's cause as he earned his second win in more than a month, a 3-1 Phillies victory over the Nationals on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Kendrick went seven innings, striking out two batters and walking one. He threw 106 pitches and survived four errors by his defense, three by Chase Utley.

Kevin Frandsen pinch-hit for Kendrick in the seventh and drove home the go-ahead run with a double to right-center. Utley hustled home in the eighth on Michael Young's ground ball and slid under the tag to add an insurance run.

Before the game, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. labeled his team "buyers" as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. The Phillies moved within 11/2 games of the second-place Nationals with their sixth win in eight outings. No one is running away with the division, Amaro said.

The bullpen is certainly an area of need, but on Thursday it seemed to be a strength. Antonio Bastardo pitched a 1-2-3 eighth and Jonathan Papelbon earned his 20th save with a shutdown ninth. Papelbon recorded the second out of the inning by making Jayson Werth look foolish as the former Phillies outfielder chased helplessly at Papelbon's outside pitch for a strikeout.

Manager Charlie Manuel said it's going to take roughly 90 wins to secure a division title, which means his team has to finish 45-26. It is a tall task for a team that has not pieced together five straight wins this season. But if Kendrick's performance can touch off a string of solid outings, the wins will follow.

Kendrick, who lost his previous two outings, escaped a jam in the fifth after Kurt Suzuki reached second on Young's throwing error to start the inning. Once again, it was a Washington bunt that proved to be Kendrick's safety valve. Zimmermann's sacrifice attempt was fielded by Ruiz, who promptly threw to Young. Suzuki was out at third.

The Phillies struck first in the fifth inning. Ruiz reached on an infield single, moved to second on Kendrick's sacrifice bunt and cruised home on Ben Revere's line-drive single to left. The Nationals tied it an inning later after Bryce Harper tripled and scored on Ryan Zimmerman's sacrifice fly.

Zimmermann puzzled the Phillies early, striking out four batters in the first three innings. He tamed the Phils with precision as he located his fastball on the corners and mixed in a snapping slider.

Kendrick was just as smooth after he escaped a rocky first inning. On the fourth pitch of the game, Utley collided with Darin Ruf and allowed a sure pop-out to bounce foul. But four batters later, Domonic Brown threw a laser from right field to throw out a sliding Harper at home.

Television replays showed that home plate umpire Kerwin Danley had missed the call and Ruiz's tag was late. It failed to matter. This was Kendrick's night to be lucky.