Javier Sanoja shifts momentum in Marlins' walk-off win

[Kevin Barral]

MIAMI, FL - Through the first seven innings of Friday's game against the Washington Nationals, the Miami Marlins had one single hit. Fortunately, their opponent has had a habit of blowing leads this season, and the Nationals did that yet again. The Marlins tied and took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. After their own closer, Pete Fairbanks, blew a save himself, hot-hitting Javier Sanoja delivered the walk-off blow as the Fish took down the Nats by a final score of 3-2.

Sanoja was not even in the starting lineup. In the bottom of the sixth, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough had him pinch-hit for Owen Caissie. Although Sanoja struck out in that first at-bat, with a runner on third in the eighth, he knocked in the game-tying RBI single and scored the go-ahead run on an Otto Lopez RBI double.

"It's tough to come off the bench when the pitcher is already hot and already having everything working and going through his plan," Sanoja said postgame through an interpreter. "But at the end of the day, we are here for a reason, so I need to accept my role and give it my best, take good at-bats and that's what I tried to do in that situation."

Fairbanks, who had not allowed a run in his last eight appearances, blew his fourth save opportunity of the season. He walked Jacob Young, who then stole second and Daylen Lile drove him in on an RBI double, tying the game.

In the bottom of the ninth, Agustín Ramírez worked his second walk of the game and Esteury Ruiz used his speed to his advantage and got on base via a bunt single, advancing to second on a throwing error. Ramírez went from first to third. Jakob Marsee was intentionally walked so that Nationals reliever Clayton Beeter could match up with Sanoja. On the sixth pitch of the at-bat, Sanoja was able to get a base hit up the middle through the drawn-in infield, allowing Ramírez to score.

Sanoja is now having the best month of his career, slashing .362/.393/.603/.996 with three home runs and 15 RBI. Friday marked his sixth multi-hit performance of the season. Sanoja is not showing any respect to Jayden Daniels by riding a five-game hitting streak.

"The at-bat quality that he's showing is certainly an improvement," McCullough said. "That's an area where as good as he is, continuing to refine his approach is a big part of him continuing to take steps as a player. He's just so valuable with what he can do, and he gets the ball to all fields. Just seen him time and time again when things are the hottest, he just has a real ability to stay in that moment and come through."

Starting the game for the Marlins was Ryan Gusto. In four innings of work, he shut out the Nationals, allowing five hits, one walk and striking out two. He has a 2.41 ERA in the month of August. On the season, he has a 4.37 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 7.96 K/9 and 2.34 BB/9 in 17 appearances (12 starts).

One slight improvement has been his average fastball velocity. In his limited sample size last season, Gusto was just averaging 94.1 mph. It is now at 94.4 mph in 2026, and on Friday, he was averaging 95.3 mph and topped out at 98.1 mph.

"A lot of work in the weight room with the strength coaches," Gusto said regarding the uptick in velocity. "We've had like literal meetings about the best ways for me and my body to go about training and the things we can do, like locking in those exercises on certain days in between starts and getting that routine down to a science almost. Mechanically speaking on the pitching side, just making sure that I'm moving efficiently, everything feels good and just going with it."

With the win, the Marlins are now 65-64 on the season, four games out of the third National League Wild Card Spot. Their head-to-head success against Washington has been critical to keeping them in the race. They've won six of their seven matchups so far.

Eury Pérez takes the mound opposite of Jake Irvin on Saturday at 4:10 pm.

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