MIAMI -- The Marlins mustered only one hit through the first seven innings Friday night, but their 5-foot-7, 150-pound spark plug fixed things with two swings.
Javier Sanoja singled to right in the eighth inning off Tom Cosgrove to tie the score, then delivered a bases-loaded single versus Clayton Beeter up the middle in the ninth to spark a wild celebration as the Marlins edged the Nationals, 3-2, at loanDepot park.
Sanoja’s first career walk-off hit produced the team’s sixth walk-off win of the season, snapping a three-game losing streak to start off a six-game homestand.
“I’m happy. The plan was just to put the ball in play, and I’m very happy I was able to do that,” Sanoja said via Marlins interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I saw they’re playing in, and I was able to put the ball through the infield.”
“He’s always ready,” said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. “And you forget how young Javi still is, not only from a Major League experience standpoint, but age -- he’s 23, and we ask him to do a whole lot. It’s not easy on a young player [to] be ready to play a lot of different positions.
“… He’s just so valuable with what he can do, and he gets the ball to all fields. And you see him time and time again, when things are the hottest, he has a real ability to stay in that moment and come through.”
Sanoja, who entered Friday’s game in the sixth inning as a pinch-hitter, had a .379 on-base percentage, .581 slugging percentage and .960 OPS in his previous 20 games.
“I’m not thinking much about that,” Sanoja said. “I’m mostly focused on my discipline. I think one of the most important aspects of the game right now is mental. I’m trying to respect that part of the game.”
After the Nationals knotted the score in the top of the ninth, Agustín Ramírez led off the Marlins’ half with a walk. Esteury Ruiz reached on a bunt single and advanced to second while Ramírez was safe at third on Beeter’s throwing error. Jakob Marsee was then intentionally walked to bring up Sanoja.
Marsee led off the eighth with a triple down the right-field line just beyond the outstretched glove of first baseman Abimelec Ortiz.
“Up until that point, we hadn’t really done anything,” McCullough said. “We had a lot of soggy at-bats, a lot of early outs, soft contact. Sometimes all it takes in a game that close is one knock to spark things, and certainly great placement by Marsee getting it into the right-field corner and using his speed to turn it into a triple. That was really the hit tonight that sparked us.”
After Sanoja tied the score, Otto Lopez gave the Marlins the lead in the eighth with an RBI single to right field.
“Better late than never,” McCullough said of the final two innings. “This time of year, wins are wins. Probably not our greatest effort up until the eighth and ninth, but we pitched really well and gave the offense a chance to be able to hang in there and just do enough to win.”
“It’s baseball. Sometimes you hit a lot and you don’t score that much and this time, you don’t hit that much, and we win the game," Sanoja said. "We were able to pick up the pace at the end, and I’m happy we were able to do it.”
By beating the Nationals for the sixth consecutive time this season, the Marlins crept one game back over .500. They’re now 39-25 at home this season and own the fourth-most home wins in Major League Baseball, trailing only the Brewers (44), Rays (43) and Braves (42).
Marlins starter Ryan Gusto went four innings, allowing five hits and no runs with two strikeouts and a walk before giving way to fellow right-hander Josh Ekness.
“Gusto was really good again,” McCullough said. “He was able to navigate around some traffic and put us in a position where we were able to do what we did tonight.”