Maybe earlier this season, the Nationals find a way to lose Wednesday night’s game against the Florida Marlins. Maybe starting pitcher John Lannan doesn’t escape every serious jam. Maybe the bullpen blows the lead for him anyway or the lack of insurance runs bites back in the end.
There’s not much Washington can do about all the pain and heartache of the first half of the season now. But at least in recent days the Nats have shed the habits that made them baseball’s worst team.
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Because on Wednesday night, Lannan did gut his way through six innings and the bullpen did hold off the powerful Marlins, who tried all game long to make up for a bad first inning and instead came up one run short in a 5-4 Washington victory.
The Nats (36-72) have now won four in a row for the second time since the All-Star break and the third time this season. They are also 10-6 over their last 16 games. At 36 games under .500, these victories may not amount to much in the long run. But they still feel pretty good.
“Winning fixes a lot of things,” said Nats slugger Adam Dunn, who teamed with Ryan Zimmerman for back-to-back solo home runs in the first inning off Florida starter Rick VandenHurk (1-1, 4.29 ERA). “Kick our record out – we’re having fun. Hopefully we can continue this the rest of the season.”
Lannan (8-8, 4.38 ERA) escaped a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the third inning. Florida (55-52) then had runners at first and second in the fifth with none out and managed just a single run. And in the sixth it had first and second with one out before Lannan struck out former teammate Emilio Bonifacio and pinch-hitter Ross Gload. It wasn’t his best performance – “we were dodging bullets out there all night,” said Nats manager Jim Riggleman – but Lannan at least gave Washington a chance to beat the Marlins for the second day in a row. Florida had won the first nine meetings between the two teams this season and 25 of the previous 29.
It wasn’t easy to hold that early 5-1 lead, however. The Marlins put two runners on base to start the seventh inning against reliever Sean Burnett. But while reliever Jorge Sosa allowed both inherited runners to score, he prevented further damage in that inning and then pitched a perfect eighth. Closer Mike MacDougal earned his 10th save with a three-up, three-down ninth, striking out Florida star Hanley Ramirez on a slider to end it.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Belliard homered in the third inning for Washington, Dunn hit his 29th homer and Zimmerman his 22nd – with a pair of spectacular defensive plays at third base to go with it. Best of all was shortstop Cristian Guzman, who batted 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBI.
“It means that all the players – all the guys – are feeling more comfortable, more relaxed right now,” said Guzman, who is working on a 12-game hit streak. “Maybe that’s what’s happened. Maybe that’s the reason.”
