WASHINGTON -- The Marlins have made the Nationals throw strikes all series. On Sunday afternoon, that finally paid off in a six-run ninth-inning rally and a 6-2 victory at Nationals Park.
After Esteury Ruiz’s bunt single, two walks and a hit batter, Joe Mack hit a tying sacrifice fly, then Miami scored the go-ahead run when center fielder Andrew Pinckney’s throw sailed into the Marlins’ dugout.
Jakob Marsee swiped home on a double steal and Otto Lopez crushed a two-run shot to left -- his 10th homer of the season -- to complete the rally that pulled the Marlins (69-68) within three games of the Padres (72-65) in the battle for the final National League Wild Card.
“We never stopped competing until the end and we created a situation,” Lopez said. “We just feel like, no matter what, we’ve got to finish the game.”
Dax Fulton allowed one run in the eighth but earned his first MLB victory, while Michael Peterson worked the ninth.
Lopez’s round-tripper was only the fourth hit of the third game of a wraparound series that began with a pair of frustrating defeats for a Marlins team trying to stay in contention.
But those difficulties haven’t eroded their patience against this uneven Nats staff, drawing at least five walks in all three of those contests.
It also nearly paid off Saturday, when Miami rallied for four runs to tie it in the seventh before falling in extras.
“I think even the last couple days, late in the game, we’ve battled at the end,” said Marsee, who was hit by a pitch from Tom Cosgrove to force across the first run after Max Kranick loaded the bases. “We just haven’t gotten going early in games this series. No matter what, this team always battles and finds away to make it close at the end or take the lead.
Miami also stole three bags total in the decisive ninth inning to make it 146 for the season, narrowing the gap on Washington (147) for the MLB lead. It was Marsee’s 21st steal, two days after Xavier Edwards became the fourth Marlins player to swipe 20 bags, and his first of home since college ball.
Ruiz now has 30 and Lopez is second on the club with 29.
“We don’t rely on everything on the slugging,” Lopez said. “We try to slug, but when it’s not happening, we just create situations.”
It took another solid outing from Janson Junk and four Marlins relievers to make those possible.
Junk allowed one run over 4 2/3 innings of work to complete his excellent August with a 2.59 ERA for the month.
Calvin Faucher got four outs. Victor Vodnik escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when he got Nasim Nuñez, who doubled in the lone run off Junk, to chop into a 4-2-3 double play. And Fulton limited the potential damage when he induced Daylen Lile into a sacrifice fly with runners on the corners.
“A lot can be said about the ninth inning, it was its own part of this game,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Those guys gave us the chance to have a rally, and we had in this game, really one good inning [at the plate].”