MIAMI -- Christopher Morel knocked the go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning of the Marlins’ 5-2 win over the Nationals on Sunday afternoon at loanDepot park.
With the series victory, the Marlins (19-22) caught up to the Nationals (19-22) in the National League East standings. Miami concluded its season-long 10-game homestand with a 4-6 record.
With the game tied at 2 in the eighth, Kyle Stowers and Jakob Marsee walked with one out against righty Gus Varland. Esteury Ruiz, who pinch-ran for Stowers, and Marsee executed a double steal with Morel at the plate on the second pitch of the at-bat.
Morel flared the next pitch, a slider at the bottom of the zone, in front of center fielder Jacob Young for the decisive hit and his first RBI as a Marlin. Heriberto Hernández added two insurance runs with a single to left to end a nine-pitch at-bat.
Signed to a one-year deal in mid-December, Morel had gotten off to a slow start with his new club. He was scratched from the Opening Day lineup hours before first pitch with a left oblique strain. Since his return on April 28, Morel had been 4-for-27 (.148) with no extra-base hits, two walks and 11 strikeouts entering the eighth-inning plate appearance.
Hernández, who was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville on Thursday as the corresponding roster move for a struggling Graham Pauley, went 2-for-4. He wasn’t in the lineup until Owen Caissie was scratched with left triceps soreness.