Washington rallies to beat Marlins for first time this season
The streak is finally over.
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The Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins had met nine times this season. And not once had Washington walked off the field a winner. That string of futility dates back further than just this season. In a span of 28 games entering Tuesday night’s contest at Nationals Park, the Nats were a humbling 3-25 against their National League East rivals and had lost 10 in a row overall in the series.
But say this for Washington — it made that first win over Florida since last September a beauty.
The Nats scored six runs in the eighth inning to ruin a dominating performance by Marlins starter Josh Johnson, who at one point had retired 20 batters in a row between the first and seventh innings. Adam Dunn came through with the game-winning hit — a two-run home run to left that ignited the crowd of 19,828 and sealed a 6-4 win. But his heroics were set up by his teammates. Johnson, who allowed two first-inning singles, fell apart in the eighth as Willie Harris, Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves led off the frame with three straight hits.
So sudden was the collapse, the Florida bullpen couldn’t get ready quickly enough. Instead, pinch hitter Ronnie Belliard laced a two-run double off Johnson into the gap in left-center.
Relief finally arrived. But a Nyjer Morgan infielder grounder and a base hit by Cristian Guzman tied the game at 4. One batter later, Dunn faced reliever Dan Meyer — Florida’s fourth pitcher of the inning — and launched his second game-winning homer in as many nights. Johnson had allowed just two hits entering the eighth and had not walked a batter. He also recorded nine strikeouts.
Nats starting pitcher J.D. Martin struggled early. The first three Florida batters of the game tripled, singled and drew a hit-by-pitch. Martin allowed just one run in that frame. But he gave up a pair of homers in the fourth — including one to Johnson — and lasted only 4 1/3 innings. Martin gave up six hits and walked four batters before departing. Guzman was the only Nats player to finish with two hits.
