Nats lose first game to Marlins 4-3 in 10 innings (updated)

MIAMI – The Nationals have had their issues with the Marlins over the past two seasons. Entering this season, they were 6-26 against Miami between 2022 and 2023, including going an abysmal 2-11 last year.

But that script has completely flipped this year, with the Nats posting a perfect 8-0 record against their lowly National League East rivals and outscoring them 54-20 coming into tonight’s two-game series finale.

Looking to extend that eight-game winning streak against the Marlins, the Nationals fell just short despite a late rally that gave them the lead in the eighth inning. In the end, Derek Law surrendered the walk-off hit in the 10th inning as the Nats dropped their first game of the season to the Marlins 4-3.

After the Nats went quietly in the top of the 10th, Law entered from the bullpen to face the Marlins’ Nos. 9-1-2 hitters. A groundout to second moved the automatic runner to third and set up Xavier Edwards’ walk-off single to send the announced crowd of 6,156 home happy.

The outcome was almost different though. Facing a 2-0 deficit in the eighth inning and with only five baserunners up until that point, the Nats put together another late rally against the Marlins bullpen.

Keibert Ruiz drew a leadoff walk, Jacob Young singled and Dylan Crews walked to load the bases and knock right-hander Mike Baumann from the game without recording an out.

Now with right-hander Calvin Faucher on the mound, José Tena drove in the Nats’ first run with a bases-loaded walk. Andrés Chaparro then tied the game at 2-2 by hitting a high infield chopper with only one out recorded at third, leaving two runners on base for James Wood at the plate.

Wood battled back from a 1-2 count to run it full, then hit a low cutter 101.2 mph off his bat the opposite way into the left-center gap. Tena came around to score from second and Wood replaced him there with a standup RBI double, the Nats now leading 3-2.

“I was trying to see him up and kind of just get a good pitch in the zone," Wood said after the game. "He threw a couple of good fastballs early and a couple of good curveballs I was lucky to lay off of. And I was just able to get a slider I was able to do something with.”

The potential for a bigger inning was still there, but the Nats had to settle for just three runs and a one-run lead.

“We started not chasing," manager Davey Martinez said of the eighth-inning rally. "Beginning of the game, we chased. We took balls we should hit. And then we had a big inning going there. I know we scored three, but we left some runners on base where we should have capitalized on those as well."

Jose A. Ferrer came in for the bottom of the eighth and recorded two quick outs. But he then gave up back-to-back singles, which brought in Kyle Finnegan for a four-out save.

But the closer fell behind to Jake Burger and surrendered the game-tying RBI single. He did come back to pitch a scoreless ninth, but that left him still searching for his 35th save.

Earlier in the night, MacKenzie Gore did his part to keep the Nats in the game. The young left-hander was perfect through the first 5 ⅓ innings before the Marlins got their first runners on base.

Gore used a steady mix of his fastball, curveball and changeup to keep the Miami hitters off-balance and off the bases. And he was efficient with his pitch count, completing his first five perfect frames on a scant 67 pitches.

“I think I was aggressive with all of them," Gore said of his pitch mix. "And that team swings a lot, so understand that and understand what they're trying to do. And try to get them off of that. So I thought we did a good job.”

But after a leadoff strikeout in the sixth, the Marlins’ bottom two hitters put together two good at-bats against Gore to not only get their first baserunners, but also their first run of the night.

Griffin Conine broke up the perfection bid with a seven-pitch walk after working back from a 1-2 count. Ball four – an 82 mph curveball that Gore seemed to have placed perfectly on the low-outside corner of the zone — was a tough call for home plate umpire Dan Merzel, putting Conine at first.

Then No. 9 hitter Nick Fortes hit a laser right over Tena’s head into the left field corner. Wood corralled the ball and got it in quickly to cutoff man CJ Abrams, but the shortstop’s throw home was a tad too far up the first base line for Ruiz to make a play at the plate.

Gore finished the sixth inning with back-to-back strikeouts on 95 mph fastballs, but it was a disappointing ending to an almost perfect start.

The southpaw’s final line was still a good one to look at: six innings with one run, one hit, one walk and nine strikeouts, the most he’s had since he whiffed 10 the last time faced the Marlins on June 14 at Nationals Park.

“I think just kind of building off of the approach we've had the last few outings," Gore said. "I felt good going in and we did a nice job of executing it.”

"For me, the story is MacKenzie, man," Martinez said. "That was really good. He pitched really well. Gave us six strong innings. His changeup was really good, but his fastball was electric, too. He pitched well. He pitched really well."

But the Nats uncharacteristically could not get anything going offensively against the Marlins starter.

Facing rookie right-hander Valente Bellozo, who entered tonight’s start with a 4.32 ERA and 1.344 WHIP, the Nats were held to just three hits and two walks over six scoreless innings.

"His cutter was working really well and he was playing his fastball off that," Wood said. "I think we were just missing a lot of pitches. But he was able to get through the lineup a couple times and really kind of keep us in check those first few innings.”

They gave themselves chances, to be sure. They got the leadoff man on first base in each of the first three innings, but couldn’t advance him to second. Luis García Jr. was the first Nats baserunner to reach second with a two-out double in the fourth, but he was stranded there when Joey Gallo flew out deep to right.

Bellozo then retired the next six straight to end his night on a positive note as his offense put him in line for the win in the bottom of the sixth.

"We just can't chase," Martinez said. "The biggest thing with our offense, when we chase, we just take ourselves out of at-bats, especially with guys on base. Yesterday, we did a better job. We scored some more runs. Today, we took a lot of balls we should hit, and we started chasing a lot of balls we shouldn't have swung at.”

That was until the Nats’ rally in the eighth, which put them in line for the win.

And that was until the Marlins' rallies in the eighth and 10th, which finally gave Miami its first victory over Washington this season, leaving the Nats to wonder what else could have been in the eighth.

“When you're in these games like this, they want to be the guy," Martinez said. "And we always talk about that. For me, it's just be another guy. Get on base for the next guy. So for me, it's just about, especially against guys that throw a lot of breaking balls, they're seeing the ball up a little bit and get ready to hit strikes.”