MIAMI -- Xavier Edwards drove in two and the bullpen covered 4 1/3 innings as the Marlins swept the Nationals in Sunday afternoon’s 6-2 victory at loanDepot park.
Miami (67-64) entered the series finale with a 5.6 percent chance at making the postseason and four games back of the Padres (70-60) for the final National League Wild Card. There are now 31 games remaining in the regular season.
The Marlins took a 1-0 lead in the first on Heriberto Hernández’s double to score Agustín Ramírez, who worked an 11-pitch walk on his bobblehead day.
Right-hander Janson Junk allowed one run through 4 2/3 innings before manager Clayton McCullough turned to fireman Michael Petersen with a pair of runners on base. Petersen would load the bases with a walk, then struck out Abimelec Ortiz on a slider to squash the threat.
The Marlins regained the lead with a two-out rally in the fifth. Otto Lopez walked, Ramírez singled and Hernández walked to set up Edwards’ two-run single to left.
After Washington trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the sixth against righty Calvin Faucher, Miami responded on Joe Mack’s pinch-hit RBI double and Lopez’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the frame to take a 5-2 lead. Mack tacked on a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the eighth.
Righty Jack Ralston, who was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville as the corresponding roster move for John King, tossed a scoreless seventh and eighth. Closer Pete Fairbanks worked around trouble in a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.