WASHINGTON, 16 August 2006 — Chipper Jones hit three home runs and Matt Diaz tied a National League record by hitting safely in 10 straight at-bats as the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 10-4 Monday night.

Jones homered in the fifth, sixth and eighth innings and had four hits and five RBI to become the first Brave with a three home run game since Andruw Jones turned the trick in 2002.

But Jones’ big night had to be shared with the 28-year-old Diaz, who had just 119 career at-bats before the season started.

“If you were in the ballpark tonight, you were certainly entertained and got your money’s worth,” Jones told reporters.

Diaz went 2-for-2 Saturday against Milwaukee, 4-for-4 on Sunday against the Brewers and followed that up with four consecutive hits on Monday.

He hit a two-run homer in the first and added singles in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to again go 4-for-4, breaking the Braves team mark for consecutive hits and tying the NL mark which is held by 10 other players.

“You don’t expect to come into a game after having had a good day yesterday and go have four hits in a row again,” Diaz told reporters.

“It was amazing really and I’m glad I got to enjoy it when we won a game easily too.”

Jones wound up 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored, while Diaz went 4-for-4 with four RBI.

Chuck James (5-3) got the win, allowing three runs — two earned — on eight hits with five strikeouts and two walks. Ramon Ortiz (9-10) allowed seven runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and three walks and was the loser.

Ryan Church homered for the Nationals, while Alfonso Soriano had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run.

In Philadelphia, Pedro Martinez suffered a strained left calf and retired after just one inning as the Phillies mauled the New York Mets 13-0.

Martinez (9-5) was knocked around for six runs on nine hits in just one inning, striking out one and walking one, but the bigger concern for the NL East leading Mets was his injury.

The club said he would return to New York and be examined further on Tuesday. He was listed as day-to-day.

Cole Hamels (5-6) pitched eight shutout innings for the win for the Phillies.

He allowed just four hits, striking out nine and walking none.

David Dellucci, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino all homered for the Phillies, who had 12 hits in the game.

Rollins had three hits, three runs scored and three RBI for the Phillies, while Abraham Nunez also drove in three runs for Philadelphia.