Marlins 3, Nats 1
Alex Sanabia has owned the Nats this season. The 22-year-old has a 2.04 ERA in three starts against Washington and continued that mastery on Friday night. Real all about his 6 2/3 strong innings of shutout ball here.
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Washington has lost six of nine overall and 11 of 16 to the Marlins this season. A trio of Florida pitchers have handcuffed the Nats, including Sanabia, ace Josh Johnson (2.50 ERA) and Anibal Sanchez (1.00 ERA). If only Ricky Nolasco (5.28 ERA, three starts) and Chris Volstad (4.50 ERA, four starts) were on the mound this weekend. Oh wait – Volstad, the man who threw a pitch behind Nyjer Morgan last week in Miami and helped incite a bench-clearing brawl, does go on Sunday against Jordan Zimmermann. So there’s that, I guess.
Unfortunately, Nolasco is on the 60-day disabled list and done for the year after right knee surgery. Not so unfortunately – for the Nats, at least – Johnson is questionable the rest of this month with shoulder and back soreness. But they will have to deal with Sanchez again Saturday afternoon. He has allowed just four earned runs in 17 2/3 innings against Washington in four 2010 starts.
Not much else to say about this loss, really. The offense was non-existent. The bullpen was solid, as usual. Tyler Clippard, Joe Bisenius, Sean Burnett and Drew Storen pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to at least give the Nats hope. Congrats are in order to Bisenius, who last pitched in the big leagues in 2007 with the Phillies. Those two appearances are also the only two times he’s pitched in the big leagues. Heck, he only pitched two innings on April 5 and 7, 2007, gave up no runs on two hits and two walks and was sent back to the minors. Didn’t look fazed, though, against Florida. Bisenius gave up just one hit in the eighth inning.
“Everyone in the minor leagues has a dream to get up here and if you don’t you probably shouldn’t be playing down there,” Bisenius said. “But yeah, I thought it would happen.”
Nats Notes
» Washington has lost eight of its last nine games against Florida.
» Since being recalled from Double-A Harrisburg on Aug. 1, Nats starting pitcher John Lannan is 5-2 with a 3.08 ERA (17 earned runs, 49 2/3 innings) in eight starts.
» The Nats bullpen has pitched a combined 17 scoreless innings over the last five games.
» Attendance at Nationals Park is almost never good for a series with the Marlins. Not even a brawl in their last meeting in Miami could fill the park on Friday night with an announced crowd of 17,180.
» Marlins catcher Brad Davis has hit two homers this season – both have come against Washington. He caught Lannan with No. 2 leading off the seventh inning.
» Former Nat Emilio Bonifacio was 2-for-5 with a run scored. He has hit safely in six straight games and is 12-for-25 with a double and two triples in that stretch. Also made a pair of nice plays in the field at third base.
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