After getting swept by the Rays, the Marlins swam into Nationals Park for a must-win series. Their offense had been held scoreless in 16 straight innings entering Thursday night, but the Fish came out firing en route to a 6-1 win.
The Marlins got on the board right away. After back-to-back singles from Luis Arraez and Josh Bell in the first inning, Bryan De La Cruz came up and drilled a double to left field to make it 1-0. This was a huge burst of energy for the Marlins and would be the start of a great offensive day.
In the second and the third, the Marlins would put runners on second but couldn’t bring them home.
They came right back in the fourth with back-to-back singles to start the inning. Nick Fortes would then walk to load the bases. This would put the Marlins in a great spot with Arraez up and one out. Arraez got the job done—despite hitting into a 4-6-5 double play, he got a run home on the play to extend the lead, which is all that matters.
Josh Bell started off the fifth inning with his second hit of the game (he would go on to finish 3-for-5). Jake Burger was then plunked on the elbow, which put runners on first and second. One swing of the bat from Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke the game open right there. He blasted his 14th home run of the year into the Nationals bullpen in right field to put the Marlins up 5-0, all of those runs charged to Joan Adon who silenced these same players the week before.
Braxton Garrett continued his great season with what was a fantastic outing from the 26-year-old starter. Garrett gave up just three hits in six innings while allowing one run. He threw just 73 pitches but was taken out before the 7th to preserve his arm as he has never thrown this many innings before. In Garrett’s previous three seasons with the Marlins, he threw 129.2 total major league innings. With a full month remaining in the 2023 season, he has already thrown 140 innings.
Garrett has been arguably the most consistent pitcher in the Marlins rotation. Who knows where this team would be without him. The Marlins have gone 19-7 in games that he has started this year (compared 48-60 in all other games)
Jake Burger would provide an extra bit of insurance in the top of the ninth with his third home run as a Marlin. This home run was a big relief as he was in a lot of pain after getting hit by a pitch earlier in the game.
After a tough series against Tampa Bay, this is exactly what the Marlins needed to do in game one of this series. They were able to drive runners in and the pitching did exactly what they needed to do. Miami now leads the season series 8-2 over the Nats while rebounding to the .500 mark overall.
What’s Next
Eury Pérez is on the mound for the Marlins on Friday and he is taking on Jake Irvin. This is déjà vu as these two met in Miami just six days ago and they both had good outings. The game is set for 7:05 ET.
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
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