WASHINGTON — The Miami Marlins believe they’ve found a recipe for success. Their three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals might be proof.
The Marlins won with offensive depth Tuesday, behind standout pitching Wednesday and by winning a war of attrition Thursday. Miami was tied with the Nationals into the seventh inning — and both teams’ lone early run was heavily aided by suspect defense — before a pinch-hit RBI single by Jesus Sanchez finally gave the Marlins the lead on their way to a 3-2 win in Washington.
Trevor Rogers — one of three starting pitchers the Marlins (10-8) envision as a potential ace — fired six innings and only gave up one run when Nationals second baseman Cesar Hernandez led off the game with a single, got all the way to third base on a wild pitch and passed ball, and scored on a one-out double by Washington first baseman Josh Bell. Utility player Jon Berti, starting his sixth game of the season, tied the game at 1-1 in top of the third when he laced a two-out double to score shortstop Miguel Rojas, who had led off the inning by getting on base via error.
With left-handed starting pitcher Patrick Corbin on the mound for the Nationals (6-15) and Miami on Day 3 of an uninterrupted 16-day streak of games, manager Don Mattingly sent Sanchez, and star infielders Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Joey Wendle — his three most productive batters so far; all left-handed hitters — to the bench and the Marlins managed to win anyway.
Seven different players drove in runs and seven different players scored in Miami’s first sweep of the season.
As important as Berti’s contributions were in Chisholm’s usual spot at the top of the order, Rogers — and the entire starting rotation — has made this strategy tenable. After he gave up a leadoff single and a double to the third hitter he faced, Rogers (1-3) set down 15 of the next 18. Those three to reach safely came from: an error; a walk, which was quickly wiped away by a successful pickoff; and another walk, which was also wiped away when Rogers induced an inning-ending double play. No one got past first base against Rogers in his final five innings.
The 24-year-old left-handed pitcher, who was an All-Star as a rookie last year, gave up just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts in six innings, and handed the ball off to a mostly rested bullpen. In the three game series, Miami threw its top three starting pitchers — Rogers, Sandy Alcantara and Pablo Lopez — and they combined to allow just two earned runs over 18 innings.
When he threw his final pitch in the bottom of the sixth, Rogers had kept the game tied 1-1, despite an eight-strikeout gem from Corbin. In the top of the seventh, Corbin (0-4) finally slipped and Mattingly unleashed some of those benched starters to get the win.
After Corbin gave up a leadoff double to outfielder Avisail Garcia and hit Rojas in the face with a pitch, Washington relief pitcher Victor Arano — a right-handed pitcher — took over and Mattingly immediately replaced outfielder Bryan De La Cruz with Sanchez. The 24-year-old Dominican swung at a pitch beneath the zone, and still slapped it into the hole between first and second base to bring home the go-ahead run.
By the end of the inning, a smattering of boos from the 12,454 at Nationals Park greeted Washington as a wild pitch let Rojas score to push the Marlins’ lead to 3-1 and send the last-place Nationals to an eighth straight loss.
Miami has won five in a row and is solidly in second place in the National League East as one of only two teams in the division with a winning record. Its five-game winning streak is longer than any win streak it had last season.
Up next
After a six-game road trip, the Marlins head back to Miami on Friday to start a six-game homestand — three games against the Seattle Mariners and three against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Marlins host the first of three games against the Mariners at 6:40 p.m. at loanDepot park. Starting pitcher Elieser Hernandez will be on the mound for Miami against Seattle pitcher Matt Brash.
