Nats end 5-game losing streak with 9-4 win over Marlins
Shairon Martis earned his first Major League victory by tossing 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball in the Nationals' 9-4 win over the Marlins. He becomes the fifth National pitcher to earn his first career win this season, joining Steven Shell, Garrett Mock, Charlie Manning and Collin Balester.
Martis allowed five hits, walked two and struck out five. It was the longest outing of his four-game career. He threw 103 pitches, 63 for strikes. Martis gave up an RBI single to Mike Jacobs in the first and a solo home run to Josh Willingham in the second before settling down.
The rookie right-hander retired nine straight Marlins before giving up a lead-off single to Cody Ross to start the fifth, but he got the next three batters to end the inning. Martis started to lose his command in the sixth and Manny Acta replaced him with Steven Shell.
With one-out, Martis walked two straight batters before Shell took over. Shell gave up an RBI single, making it a 4-3 game, before getting an inning-ending double play.
Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Ryan Zimmerman's 14th homer of the year, a two-run shot to left, gave the Nationals' a 2-1 lead. Josh Willingham tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second with a solo shot to left that just cleared the wall.
Washington took the lead for good in the third on Lastings Milledge's sac fly. Alberto Gonzalez singled to start the inning, moved to third on Jorge Cantu's throwing error on Zimmerman's grounder and scored on Milledge's fly ball.
Milledge would make it a 4-2 game in the fifth with an RBI single. Gonzalez doubled to left with one out and advanced to third on Zimmerman's single. Milledge went the opposite way with a Scott Olsen fastball and Gonzalez scored easily.
After the Marlins cut the lead to 4-3, Gonzalez provided the spark and drove in the Nationals' fifth run of the night. Willie Harris walked and moved to second on a sac bunt by Wil Nieves. One out later, Gonzalez jumped on the first pitch from Jesus Delgado, a 95 MPH fastball, and served into center field for an RBI single.
Washington broke the game wide open with a four-run eighth inning. Anderson Hernandez singled home two runs to make it a 7-3 game. Gonzalez's double, his career-high fourth hit on the night, scored Hernandez and Milledge brough home Gonzalezwith an RBI single, his third RBI on the evening.
Postgame Notes
Elijah Dukes went 1-3 but reached base four times. He was hit by a pitch, walked, hit into a fielder's choice and singled and flew out.
Alberto Gonzalez had four hits in five at bats, to raise his average to .275, and scored three runs.
Ryan Zimmerman was 2-5 with his 14th home run and second in as many night's.
Willie Harris was 1-2 with two walks and a run scored.
Lastings Milledge had three hits and three RBI, giving him 60, which leads the Nationals.
Nationals pinch-hitters, Pete Orr and Roger Bernadina, each drew walks.
Michael Hinckley extended his consecutive scoreless innings to start his career to 11 2/3, tying him for the second longest in franchise history with Gerry Pirtle of the 1978 Expos
Final Linescore
Marlins 4-9-1
Nationals 9-13-0
WP-Martis (1-3)
LP-Olsen (8-11)
HR-Zimmerman (14), Willingham (13)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Nationals scoring, 8th inning
Anderson Hernandez drove in two runs with a single off Eulogio De La Cruz to make it a 7-3 game and Alberto Gonzalez followed with a run scoring double to put the Nationals up 8-3 in the eighth.
Hernandez drove in Willie Harris, who walked, was sacrificed to second and stole third, on a double steal with pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina, who also drew a walk. Gonzalez's double, his fourth hit on the night, is a career-high for hits in a game.
Lastings Milledge singled home Gonzalez to make it 9-3. It was the third RBI for Milledge on the night and the third run scored for Gonzalez.
Nationals scoring, 6th inning
Alberto Gonzalez picked up his third hit of the night and the latest drove home Willie Harris to give the Nationals' a two-run cushion.
Harris walked to lead-off the sixth and was sacrificed to second. After a walk to pinch-hitter Pete Orr and an out, Gonzaled singled to make it a 5-3 game.
Marlins scoring, 6th inning
Steven Shell replaced Shairon Martis, who walked two consecutive batters with one-out in the sixth and gave up an RBI single to make it a 4-3 game.
With runners on first and second, Shell gave up a single to Dan Uggla to bring the Marlins within a run. Shell got out of the inning by getting a 5-4-3 double play.
Martis' decent night
Shairon needed 103 pitches to get thru 5 1/3 innings. He walked the last two batters he faced and Manny Acta took him out of the game. After giving up a solo home run in the second, Martis retired nine straight Marlins and 13 of 14 before the two walks. He is in line to get the win, which would be the first of his career.
5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 5 K, HR. 103 pitches, 63 strikes
Nationals scoring, 5th inning
Lastings Milledge drove in his second run of the night, giving the Nationals a 4-2 lead.
Alberto Gonzalez led off with a double and moved to third on Ryan Zimmerman's single. Milledge took Scott Olsen's fastball and pushed it into right field, scoring Gonzalez.
Nationals scoring, 3rd inning
Lastings Milledge sac fly in the third puts the Nationals on top 3-2.
Alberto Gonzalez led off with a single and moved to third on Dan Uggla's throwing error on Ryan Zimmerman's ground ball. Milledge lifted a fly ball to left that was deep enough to score Gonzalez with the go ahead run.
Martis thru 3 innings
Shairon has settled down since the first when he gave up a run on three hits. Since the solo homer leading off the second, he has retired the six Marlins and he struck out four in a row. His pitch count is a bit higher than Manny Acta would like at this point.
3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K, HR. 60 pitches, 39 strikes
Marlins scoring, 2nd inning
Josh Willingham tied the game 2-2 in the second with his 13th home run of the season.
Willingham's blast to left just cleared the wall and gave the Marlins a franchise record 202 homers on the season.
Nationals scoring, 1st inning
Ryan Zimmerman's 14th home run of the season put the Nationals up 2-1 in the bottom of the first.
Zimmerman jumped on an 2-0 fastball from Scott Olsen and deposited the ball in the seats in left field, scoring Anderson Hernandez, who singled to lead-off the inning.
Marlins scoring, 1st inning
Shairon Martis gave up three singles in the first and the Nationals' trail 1-0.
Hanley Ramirez and John Baker hit consecutvie singles to put runners on first and second. One out later, Mike Jacobs singled to drive home Ramirez and put the Marlins on top. Martis got out of the inning by getting Dan Uggla to ground into the 5-4-3 double play.
Starting Line-Ups
Marlins
SS Hanley Ramirez
C John Baker
3B Jorge Cantu
1B Mike Jacobs
2B Dan Uggla
LF Josh Willingham
CF Cody Ross
RF Jeremy Hermida
P Scott Olsen
Nationals
2B Anderson Hernandez
SS Alberto Gonzalez
3B Ryan Zimmerman
CF Lastings Milledge
RF Elijah Dukes
1B Aaron Boone
LF Willie Harris
C Wil Nieves
P Shairon Martis
Game Preview
Florida (81-75) at Nationals (58-98)
The Nationals begin their final home series of the 2008 season as they welcome the Florida Marlins to Nationals Park.
Washington, losers of five straight, looks to end its four-game losing streak to the Marlins. In fact, the Nationals are just 2-13 against their NL East foes this season and they have lost all six games in DC.
Florida, who has lost three straight, is 5 ½ games out of the Wild Card race with six games remaining. They would need a miracle to earn a spot in the post season.
Tonight, Shairon Martis looks for his first Major League victory while Scott Olsen aims to end the Marlins three-game skid and inch closer to the top spot in the playoff chase.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Shairon Martis (0-3, 6.23) had the worst start of his young career last Wednesday against the Mets. Martis gave up six runs on five hits and two walks in three innings in New York's 9-7 win. Three of the five hits were home runs, two in the first inning.
Jose Reyes led off the game with a homer, and two strikeouts later, Carlos Delgado made it 2-0 with another solo shot. After a 1-2-3 second inning, the Mets scored four times in the third to take a 6-1 lead and knock Martis out of the game.
Daniel Murphy tripled home a run and Delgado singled home Murphy to make it 4-1. Carlos Beltran followed with a two-run blast to end the rookie's night.
Martis, facing the Marlins for the second time, had his best outing of the three starts this season. He only allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits in five solid innings but suffered the 2-1 loss. Martis walked three and struck out nine while throwing 103 pitches, 62 for strikes.
Hopefully Martis can keep the ball down against the slugging Marlins. He's given up four home runs in only 13 innings since joining the Nationals.
LHP Scott Olsen (8-10, 4.20) is riding a two-game wining streak after going nine starts without a victory. He's coming off consecutive starts where he only allowed one run in each game.
In his last start, Olsen gave up one run on three hits in seven excellent innings in the Marlins 8-1 win over the Astros. He walked one and struck out seven, one short of his season high.
Prior to defeating Houston, Olsen beat the Nationals 2-1 at Dolphin Stadium on September 12th. The 6'5'' left-hander gave up one run on six hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out four
Olsen is making his fifth start against Washington this season and he looks to remain undefeated. He's 3-0 with a 3.04 ERA and holding the Nationals' to a .202 batting average.
In his career vs. the Nationals, Olsen is 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 11 starts. If Washington has plans of finally beating Olsen, their best shot will be at Nationals Park. He is 2-4 with a 5.79 ERA on the road compared to 6-6 with a 3.11 at home.
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