3 takeaways from Marlins' first road sweep of 2026

WASHINGTON -- For the first time this season, the Marlins have won three straight road games, toppling the Nats, 4-1, on Wednesday at Nationals Park to head home happy.

“I think Miami came in and they punched us in the mouth,” said Nationals manager Blake Butera at the conclusion of the series.

Here are three takeaways from the series finale, as the Marlins head back to Miami having gone 4-5 this road trip between Toronto (1-2), New York (0-3) and Washington (3-0).

Lucky 13 for Meyer

Wednesday’s start marked Max Meyer’s career-high 13th of the season -- a huge milestone for the 27-year-old. It’s been a bumpy road to this point in Meyer’s big league tenure, enduring Tommy John surgery in 2022 before spending ‘24 and ‘25 working to get back to competitive form.

Now, Meyer has become one of Miami’s most consistent starters, tied with Sandy Alcantara for the most starts on the team while delivering a 2.81 ERA (compared to Alcantara’s 4.59 ERA). Meyer is also the only Marlins starter without a loss on his record. His seven innings on Wednesday matched his season high (also May 2 vs. the Phillies and May 23 vs. the Mets) and marked the seventh time this year he’s pitched into the sixth inning.

“It definitely feels like a career high,” Meyer said. “I’m glad my body feels good. It’s a long season, I don’t want to get ahead of myself -- I’ve done that before in the past, and it just falls apart. But really good start health-wise, feeling good.”

Meyer allowed just one run on two hits and two walks while striking out seven on Wednesday, throwing 97 pitches (57 strikes). Meyer also tied Liván Hernández (13 starts in 1997) for the club record for most starts completed without a loss.

“You start with Max,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He was, again, fantastic. Other than the third inning [when the Nats scored], only time he really ran into a little bit of trouble -- there was some traffic, but he was able to ge the double play ball to get out of it and leave it with one run.”

With nine pitchers on the injured list, having at least one starter who can deliver not only innings but also wins is crucial as Miami seeks to climb back above .500.

Happy homers

It had been a month to the day since Esteury Ruiz last homered, but it didn’t take him long on Wednesday afternoon to go yard.

Ruiz launched his third homer of the year and first since May 3 in his first at-bat of the game, cranking a 3-1 fastball from starter Andrew Alvarez a Statcast-projected 365 feet, sending the ball caroming off the left-field foul pole. It was Miami’s eighth home run of the series, after hitting just two in a three-game set vs. the Mets over the weekend.

Getting their slug back was huge for the Marlins, who have the fifth-fewest home runs in the Majors this year (54). Small ball can win games, sure, but having homer power is crucial for a team’s longevity in a 162-game campaign.

Not-so-invisible string of hits

Where it was slugging that secured the first two wins of the series for the Marlins, on Wednesday it was some late-inning small ball.

“I thought we stressed their pitchers really well today,” McCullough said. “[We] forced them to throw a lot of pitches and worked at-bats.”

Miami secured the finale win -- and sweep -- thanks to a two-run eighth inning that saw seven batters step to the plate, the key contribution coming from the nine-hole hitter Joe Mack. Taking advantage of some offspeed pitches and command issues from Nats reliever Clayton Beeter, the Marlins loaded the bases on a line-drive single from Xavier Edwards, a four-pitch walk to Liam Hicks and a bunt single from Jakob Marsee to open the frame.

A strikeout and a fielder’s choice later, Mack stepped to the plate with a chance to end the 1-1 stalemate -- and he needed just one pitch to do so.

Mack lined a two-run single into right field, driving in the game-winning runs less than 24 hours after hitting his first career homer.

Kyle Stowers followed suit in the ninth with an RBI triple to give Miami’s 'pen a solid three-run lead. Stowers’ hit was the Marlins’ 10th and final hit of the game. It was just the third time this season that Miami has tallied double-digit hits -- all three of which came against the Nats: 12 hits on May 9 in Miami and 10 hits on Monday in Washington.

“We kind of came in here scuffling from Toronto and New York,” McCullough said, “but I think for us to kind of put that behind us and come out -- Sandy set the tone in Game 1, and the first couple days, how we were able to swing the bat, score some runs. And then for Max to follow that up and give us a start that we needed to win this game? Great way to finish this trip and get to the off-day and get back home for a while.”