Parker handles adversity, Winker hits grand slam in rout of Marlins (updated)

MIAMI – It was unfair and unrealistic to think Mitchell Parker would continue his dominant start to his major league career much longer. At some point, major league hitters would catch up to the 24-year-old.

Even the lowly Marlins, who own the second-worst record in the majors, have good big-league hitters in their lineup. And with two starts worth of video on Parker, it wasn’t going to be an easy walk in loanDepot park for the lefty.

And so it was that Parker ran into his first bit of adversity in his third major league start. But he continued to impress by battling it and grinding through four innings, allowing the Nationals to win their second game in a row against the Marlins. The win was mainly fueled by Jesse Winker’s grand slam, resulting in the Nats' 11-4 rout in front of an announced crowd of 12,695.

“Winker with the big blow," manager Davey Martinez said after the win. "He put us up top and I think the guys kind of loosened up a little bit. We started swinging our bats. ... It was a good day offensively, a good day. So we gotta come back and do it again tomorrow.”

Parker displayed great command in his first two starts by striking out 12 and issuing zero walks, which were an issue for him since he entered the Nats system as a 2020 fifth-round pick. The free passes came back to haunt him in the first inning as he issued the first two of his big league career to help Luis Arraez reach third base.

Last year’s hitting champion then scored on Parker’s wild pitch to put the Nats in a quick 1-0 hole. But although Parker gave up a baserunner in each of his four innings, he didn’t allow any more runs to score.

“Just keep attacking the strike zone," Parker said of his adjustments. "Use the fielders and help them do what they're back there for. They did a great job at making the plays. And just keep attacking.”

Parker needed just 73 pitches to toss seven shutout innings against the Astros on Sunday. He needed 72 to get through his first three innings today, leading to his shortest outing so far.

“He’s really good," catcher Keibert Ruiz said of Parker. "We had a tough first couple of innings. But after that, he was commanding his pitches good. He had a really good sliding fastball, it was sharp. And the splitter and his curveball. He's gonna be good for us. He's gonna help us win a lot of games.”

The Marlins threatened to score again in the third with runners on second and third, but Parker came back to strike out first baseman Emmanuel Rivera on an 85 mph splitter to end the frame. Then a leadoff single in the fourth was erased by a double play and the inning ended with a nicely turned 3-1 putout by Joey Meneses and Parker at first base.

“I'm not gonna have everything every day," Parker said. "So being able to just compete and keep as close of a game as we could. To hold us in it and give us the best chance to win, it was a good game. Got a good win. The offense carried me there a little bit, so it was really good.”

Parker gave up just the one run, six hits and two walks with two strikeouts over his four innings, throwing 82 pitches and 55 strikes.

“He struggled a little bit. But he kept his poise," Martinez said. "He had some high-leverage situations throughout the first couple of innings. And he got out of it. So that's good to see that he can manage through when he's not feeling all that great today. … He kept us in the ballgame, which is great.”

Before Parker was officially pulled in the middle of the fifth, the Nats offense busted out for a big lead.

They had tied the game at 1-1 in the third when Jacob Young reached on an infield single, stole second base, advanced to third on CJ Abrams' groundout to second and scored on a passed ball.

The "Jacob Young Home Run.”

Then things got whacky in the fifth. Trey Lipscomb led off with his second single to left (he’s 5-for-8 with a double, walk and zero strikeouts in his last nine plate appearances, by the way) and Eddie Rosario walked (he’s hitting .094 now, by the way) to get the wheels in motion.

After a force out at third, Rosario eventually got to the corner by stealing the bag, with Nick Senzel reaching second on a throwing error by Marlins catcher Christian Bethancourt. Young hit a hard ball to Rivera at first, but Rosario was called safe on a close play at home.

After a Marlins challenge, the call stood when it was shown Bethancourt dropped the ball while applying the tag, giving the Nats a 2-1 lead.

Abrams, who was intentionally walked last night leading to the Nats taking a late lead, drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases for Winker’s fourth career grand slam.

“It was just cool to, in the moment, collectively put together a plan of attack and it kind of pay off immediately with a result. So it was cool,” Winker said.

Marlins starter Edward Cabrera left a hanging curveball right down the middle for Winker to hit 105 mph off the bat and into the second deck in right field. The slam was Winker’s third home run of the season and gave the Nats a 6-1 lead.

“I just wanted to hit a ball in the air," Winker said. "Obviously, it was bases loaded, I just wanted to hit a sac fly. So I wanted to see something up. Cabrera, he had my number. So I just wanted to really simplify that at-bat and hit a ball in the air. It got up and got out, so I was happy about that.”

While not credited with his fifth RBI of the game, Winker helped score the Nats’ seventh run of the day by hitting a hot shot to Marlins third baseman Vidal Bruján, who made a nice diving stop. But Rivera dropped the throw at first, allowing Young to score from second to make it 7-1.

The Nats’ bats and speed continued to do damage in the seventh. Ruiz hit his second homer of the season to lead off the inning and Senzel hit his third three batters later with two outs. Abrams then hit an RBI triple into the right field corner to score Young easily all the way from first to make it 10-1.

“It feels good," Ruiz said of his first homer hit right-handed this season. "After those tough days and I’m not getting a lot of hits at this point, but obviously it feels really good.”

Young reached in all five of his plate appearances and came around to score four times. His four runs scored are the most by a Nationals player this season. He joins Elly De La Cruz and Bobby Witt Jr. (twice) as the only players to score four runs in a game this season.

“It's awesome. He's playing really well right now," Martinez said of Young. "I can see his confidence getting a lot better as well. If he keeps getting on base and doing the little things, he's gonna help us win games.”

Lipscomb doubled in the ninth and came around to score for the Nats’ final run. The Marlins added three off Tanner Rainey in the bottom of the inning.

After struggling offensively against the Dodgers and for the first seven innings last night, the Nats enjoyed their highest run output of the young season en route to taking the first two games of this four-game series.

“Well, you saw it," Martinez said with a laugh of what his loosened-up offense looks like. "It's nice when you can put up a four spot and take the lead like that. They all swung the bats a lot better today. That's awesome to see. So let's keep it going, right? The big thing is now is to keep it going. Let's get some consistency and try to get 1-0 tomorrow.”

* Top prospect Dylan Crews returned to Double-A Harrisburg’s lineup today after missing 10 days with a hamstring issue. He went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts in the Senators’ 3-1 win over the Erie SeaWolves (Tigers).

Crews was pinch-hit for in the top of the ninth inning. The Nationals have been extra cautious with him while he’s been dealing with the hamstring.

Robert Hassell III extended his on-base streak to 13 games with a single. Brady House hit his third double and sixth extra-base hit of the year. And Yohandy Morales went 2-for-4.

* James Wood had a big day in Triple-A Rochester’s doubleheader. After recording a hit in the first game, he recorded a three-hit game and stole two bases.

The Nats’ No. 2 prospect is now slashing .330/.435/.495 in 23 games with the Red Wings.