Laynce Nix drove home Danny Espinosa in a walk-off sacrifice fly for Thursday's only run in the Washington Nationals' thrilling 1-0 victory over the Seattle Mariners. The win finished off a three-game sweep of the M's and puts the Nats one game over .500 with a 38-37 record. The Mariners fell to 37-38.
Starting pitchers Michael Pineda and Jason Marquis each dominated the opposing team's lineup. Marquis carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning as he threw eight scoreless frames. Pineda struck out nine in seven scoreless innings.
Oddly enough, the hit that broke up Marquis' no-no belonged to Pineda. His single to shallow center was the first hit of his career.
Once the starters were removed, relievers were left to decide the game. Seattle's David Pauley and Washington's Tyler Clippard each pitched scoreless innings before Chris Ray came in to pitch the bottom of the 9th.
The right-hander allowed back-to-back singles to Michael Morse and Danny Espinosa to lead off the inning. After an Ivan Rodriguez sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, Nix delivered the winning hit two batters later.
The win is the Nats' third in a row, and their 11th in their last 12 games.