The Nationals made a run in the ninth inning of Wednesday night’s game, but it was not enough as the Florida Marlins won 5-7. Washington has now lost four games in a row.
The Marlins got on the board in the second inning thanks to a solo home run from right fielder Mike Stanton off of Nats’ starter Livan Hernandez. He now has 23 homers this season.
Florida picked up a couple more in the top of the fourth inning, when catcher John Buck hit a bases-loaded single to bring home two.
Washington has played from behind the whole series against the Marlins as they have scored the first run in both games so far. On Wednesday, Hernandez was only able to pitch four innings due to a high pitch count.
“The starting pitching hasn’t been what we wanted it to be,” Nationals’ Manager Davey Johnson said. “Livo used a lot of pitches in four innings, and he was at 90 when I took him out.”
But the Nats cut the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Laynce Nix crushed a solo shot to the second deck in right to make it a 1-3 ballgame.
However, the two-run deficit would be short-lived, as the Marlins picked up another run in the top of the fifth when shortstop Hanley Ramirez hit an RBI double to right center.
Mariners’ center fielder Mike Cameron hit a solo homer in the top of the eighth to put his team up by four.
Cameron hit his second home run of the game in the ninth, a two-run shot to the visitors’ bullpen in left field that put Florida up 1-7.
The Nats scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth. Nix came to the plate with a chance to tie the game at seven and hit a ball to the wall in right field, but Marlins’ right fielder Mike Stanton caught it for the last out of the game.
While a loss is still a loss, Johnson saw more positives in this one than he has in the last three.
“We scored five runs, almost more, so it was very refreshing,” he said. “This is more what we’re capable of doing. It just shows it’s there. It’s just the little things that make the difference between winning and losing.”
