The Florida Marlins are beginning to feel like a little worm on a big hook and the Washington Nationals smell blood in the water as the Nats defeated the Marlins for the second night in a row by the score of 5-2. The Nationals offense has slowly started to wake up while starting pitching and relief pitching continue to put strong efforts together effectively.
In the first-inning the Nationals hit four consecutive singles of the Marlins Chris Volstad, including a two-RBI single by Adam LaRoche to take the early lead. The Marlins got the runs back in the second after John Buck took Nats southpaw Tom Gorzelanny yard for a two-run bomb. The Nationals took the lead in the fifth-inning off a Jayson Werth sac fly.
The Nationals then took full control of the game in the ninth-inning thanks to two Marlins mistakes.
In the ninth-inning Marlins third baseman Wes Helms committed an error that allowed Matt Stairs to reach first base and on the same play Helms was called for interference while Jerry Hairston Jr. was running to third. The umpires awarded Hairston Jr. home plate. Ian Desmond finished off the Nats scoring with a sac fly that scored Danny Espinosa.
Aside from the two-run home run, Gorzelanny was again solid going seven-innings giving up only two hits and two runs. Reliever Drew Storen scored his seventh save of the season. Nationals pitching got a huge defense night from Espinosa who had a couple of terrific grabs in the field.
The Nationals are now 16-17 and in fourth place in the NL East.