Sánchez not as pitch efficient, but still able to keep Marlins at bay

There was nothing easy about what Aníbal Sánchez needed to do to get outs Friday night. But then again, he deserves credit for holding the Marlins to only two runs on three hits.

But in five innings, Sánchez had to spend 94 pitches. He left with the lead, but the Nationals bullpen could not keep the Marlins off the board. Miami rallied from a 3-1 deficit to lead the Nats in the ninth, 6-5. Then Anthony Rendon saved the day with an amazing two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to win it 7-6.

"This guy, he's everything," Sánchez said. "He's really good. For me he goes to another level."

For Sánchez though, his five innings were a constant battle. The Marlins got the first or second batter on base in each inning. Sánchez had to fire those 94 pitches to get 15 outs.

Sánchez allowed a solo shot to Harold Ramirez in the first inning. Miami scored again in the fourth thanks to a ground-rule double from Lewis Brinson and later an RBI groundout from Jon Berti. He allowed three hits but also four walks, one of which was intentional.

"Today was one of those games that was really crazy," Sánchez said. "My early command with every hitter wasn't there. I tried to fight with every at-bat. So, when I got in a situation with runners in scoring position just tried to get an out. I don't want to leave the game with a lot of scores. I just wanted to keep the score that we are winning."

And yet he never surrendered the big frame. 94 pitches was about 19 pitches over what he had hoped to throw in five innings, yet the Marlins mustered only two runs. Contrasting this start with his win Aug. 23 at the Chicago Cubs, where he came within two outs of a complete game allowing only one earned run is stark.

"A couple of their hitters they fight against me, they take a lot of pitches," Sánchez noticed. "Otherwise I threw a couple of balls with a lot of pitches. My pitches today with nobody on base, I don't know what happened, but it's part of the game. One game you pitch good and another one you try to fight and that's what I did today. Tried to fight, give the team the opportunity to win."

And in the end, Rendon grabbed the win for the Nats. It was not pretty and it was a little sloppy, but it still was the Nats' 75th victory of the season.

Manager Davey Martinez: "Let's just say we won a tough game. Come back tomorrow and do it again. Just play clean. That's all I ask. Play good, clean baseball."