Perfect night from bullpen, eighth-inning rally push Marlins past Nats

In 2022 and 2023, the Miami Marlins, simply put, found ways to beat the Washington Nationals.

Whether it was clutch hits—see Jorge Soler's walk-off homer with two outs last May—dominant pitching performances, or just capitalizing on how poor those Nationals teams were, the Marlins possessed a 26-6 head-to-head record during the two seasons.

This season, the Fish have made a complete 180.

Entering their final matchup of 2024, Miami owned a 1-8 record against their divisional foe, as Washington starts to reap the rewards of their rebuild they started late in the 2021 season.

Thursday night was a throwback performance. Even when Darren McCaughan put them in an early 3-0 hole, the Marlins bullpen kept them in the game. The offense rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth before eventually securing a 6-3 series-opening win. 

Connor Norby and Jonah Bride got things started in the eighth and led the way the entire night for Miami as the one and two holes both collected two RBI's.

Otto Lopez put Miami on top with a forceout, coupled with a misplay at first base. It included Lopez's seventh RBI of September, more than he had in July and August combined.

Anthony Veneziano, Anthony Bender and Jesús Tinoco were spotless in relief, giving up no hits in four combined innings of work. Tinoco delivered a six-out save, continuing the impressive start to his Marlins career. Going into Thursday, Tinoco had a 1.47 ERA in 15 appearances.

"Our bullpen was outstanding...Tinoco with the two-inning save was fantastic." raved Marlins manager Skip Schumaker.

Of Note

- Aside from the up-and-down first, McCaughan was solid through five frames. The righty threw his sweeper and sinker a combined 75% of the time with the two pitches combining for three whiffs. "It didn't look like it was gonna go great...but Mac did a really good job of stabilizing the game from there on," said Schumaker.

- Once again, Xavier Edwards didn't make the start due to illness. However, Miami's dynamic middle infielder racked up two hits from each side of the plate off the bench.

- After a rough couple of weeks, Jake Burger tallied three hits. He had the two highest exit velocities on the Marlins in this game (109.9 mph single in the third and 108.4 mph single in the eighth).

Up Next

The four-game series between these division rivals continues Friday night at 6:45 ET. Edward Cabrera, coming off one of his better starts of 2024 on Sunday against the Phillies, makes the start for Miami. Opposing Cabrera is DJ Herz, who punched out 13 Marlins in six innings back in mid-June.