By Zachary McMahon –
The Washington Nationals hosted the Miami Marlins on the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park in Washington, DC. The Nationals took the first two games and looked for the sweep in this game.
The Nats went with rookie pitcher Mitchell Parker who entered this game with a 5-3 record. He went six innings, allowed six hits, one run, no walks, and struck out four batters.
After C.J. Abrams flew out to Bryan De La Cruz to lead off the inning, Lane Thomas hit a solo homer to grab the early lead for the Nats, as he hit a homer for the third day in a row for the second time in his career, as he also did it against Miami last season on Sept. 1-3.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a single that Parker was not able to glove, allowing Emmanuel RIvera to come home for the Marlins to tie the game at one in the fifth. Jacob Young quickly grabbed the lead back for the Nats with his first major league homer as a solo homer into the Marlins bullpen to make it 2-1.
This was his 93rd game and his 325th major
league plate appearance. Illdemaro Vargas extended the Nats lead to 3-1 with a RBI single that brought home Nick Senzel, who walked twice in the game.
Derek Law pitched into the eighth for the Nats, where he allowed one hit and struck out Rivera in the seventh. Law had to be taken out after Josh Bell hit into a fielder’s choice and Ryan Garcia came in to pitch and struck out Wil Myers.
Kyle Finnegan pitched a shutout ninth inning allowing only a double by Otto Lopez. He struck out Vidal Brujan, who pinch hit for catcher Nick Fortes to end the game for his 20th save of the season as the Nats held on to win 3-1.
The Nats sweep the Marlins, and now they have won eight out of their last nine games.
Meanwhile, the Marlins have lost their last five games, and 11 out of the last 13. The Nationals are 7-0 against the Marlins this season, as the Marlins have the NL-Worst record as they go down to 23-48.
The Nats improve to 35-36 as they reach their best record since they were 20-21 after Game 2 of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox on May 14. The Marlins are 3-23 against left handers, which include all three games of this season, and suffered their sixth sweep of the season in the hands of the Nationals.
In the last 10 games, the Nationals starters are 6-0 with a 1.41 ERA. Nats rookie third baseman Trey Lipscomb got his first hit since being called up on Wednesday as a single in the seventh.
Lipscomb was called up to replace Joey Gallo on the lineup as he landed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain.
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