The Miami Marlins offense just had to get to the bullpen portion of the afternoon against the Washington Nationals.

Tied 1-1 in the seventh inning after being neutralized by Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irving for five innings and reliever Jordan Weems Saturday afternoon, the Marlins simply had to sit back and wait for Nationals reliever Chad Kuhl to make mistakes. 

Kuhl allowed a leadoff walk to Jonathan Davis, followed immediately by a Nick Fortes single that moved Davis to third. After going down 2-0 to Luis Arraez with one out, Kuhl intentionally walked him to face Jorge Soler with the bases loaded. 

Kuhl walked Soler on four pitches – none of the pitches were particularly close – to drive home the go-ahead run. On the next at-bat, Kuhl threw a wild pitch to Bryan De La Cruz that allowed Fortes to score.

The Marlins got more insurance runs in the ninth when De La Cruz hit a two-run single down the right field line.

The Nationals bullpen, which came into the game ranked 19th in the majors with a 4.19 ERA, allowed four runs to Miami on Saturday.

Marlins starting pitcher Braxton Garrett kept Miami in the game before the offense turned back on.

After allowing a first-inning triple to Luis Garcia, Garrett retired nine batters in a row before allowing a double to Jeimer Candelario and an RBI-single to Joey Meneses. Garrett allowed a walk to Stone Garrett to put two runners on base. After a long mound visit by pitching coach Mel Stottlemeyer, Jr., Garrett got Dominic Smith to ground into an inning-ending double play.

That was the only run Garrett allowed in his six innings of work. He allowed four hits and one walk while striking out eight.

The Marlins now stand at 40-31. June 17 is the earliest the franchise has reached 40 wins since 1997.