Jordan closes out his spring on a high note (Nats win 4-1)

NATIONALS QUICK WRAP Score: Nationals 4, Marlins 1 Summary: Taylor Jordan worked 5 2/3 strong innings, allowing just a run. Nate McLouth homered, doubled, walked and drove in two. Craig Stammen, Ross Detwiler and Aaron Barrett combined to work 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Need to know: Jordan left a solid final impression on manager Matt Williams in his last outing of spring. Now it'll come down to him or Tanner Roark for the final spot in the Nats rotation. On deck: Tuesday, vs. Mets at home, 1:05 p.m. live on MASN HD JUPITER, Fla. - Like Tanner Roark yesterday, Taylor Jordan ended his spring on a positive note. And now the two right-handers will wait to see which one of them earns the final spot in the Nationals rotation. Jordan went 5 2/3 innings today against the Marlins, allowing a run on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts. He struck out Giancarlo Stanton in the first, and allowed a Stanton RBI double in the sixth, but overall put up another solid outing. Here's Jordan's final line for spring: 20.2 IP, 24 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 20 Ks. That's a 3.92 ERA. For what it's worth, here's Roark's spring: 13.2 IP, 11 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 11 Ks. That doesn't include five scoreless innings he tossed during a minor league game last week. We'll see how this shakes out from here. It doesn't appear either guy did much to separate himself from the other, but both sure pitched pretty well. To play off a line from "The Wire," the Nats have what you might call one of "them good problems" right now. Neither Jordan nor Roark would be a bad choice. Washington leads 3-1 here in the seventh thanks largely to Nate McLouth, who drove in a run with a double in the first and then smacked a solo homer to right in the sixth. It was his second longball of spring, and it was a no-doubter. McLouth also walked today and has boosted his spring average to .250. Craig Stammen is on for the Nats now. He left a runner stranded at second in the sixth and will remain on to work the bottom of the seventh.