Otto Lopez delivered the finishing blow, and the Miami Marlins walked out of Washington with a 6-2 comeback win after detonating for six runs in the ninth inning on Sunday.
The rally started with a little chaos and kept snowballing. Esteury Ruiz opened the frame with a bunt single against Max Kranick (0-1), then Griffin Conine and Leo Jiménez drew walks. Tom Cosgrove came on for Kranick and immediately hit Jakob Marsee to force in a run.
Joe Mack followed with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Conine and tying the game. Then Andrew Pinckney tried to cut down Jiménez at third and threw wildly, sending the ball into the dugout and allowing Jiménez to move up and make it 3-2. Heriberto Hernández then walked, Marsee stole home on a double steal, and Lopez finished the inning with a 400-foot homer into the Marlins bullpen.
Dax Fulton (1-0) earned his first career win after the Marlins got 4 2/3 innings from starter Janson Junk, who allowed one run on four hits.
Washington had taken control earlier behind a pair of late scoring plays. Nasim Nuñez drove in the first run with an RBI double in the fifth, and Daylen Lile added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to make it 2-0.
The Nationals also got a strong night from Jorbit Vivas, who finished with two hits and two walks. CJ Abrams, making his first start at second base for Washington, helped defensively with a leaping catch on a line drive in the sixth.
Miami had to finish the game without Xavier Edwards, who left after a collision with Vivas on a tag play during a steal attempt in the fifth. Edwards said after the game he was feeling better but will have imaging done on his left thumb on Monday.
In Other News...
Dylan Crews May Have Just Sparked The Nationals' Biggest Turnaround Hope
Dylan Crews has been building toward a moment like this since the Nationals made him the No. 2 overall pick in 2023, and it finally arrived in a game Washington needed to have. The club got strong work from Cade Cavalli before he exited early with an injury, then stayed in it through the late innings and got a scoreless 10th from Orlando Ribalta to keep the door open.
The payoff came after two straight walks loaded the bases in the 10th, turning a tied game into a chance for Crews to become the difference. For a Nationals team still searching for signs of a real turnaround, the rookie's first major league walk-off hit did more than end a game - it offered a reminder that the organization may already have a player capable of changing the mood around it. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Prospects Keep Wasting The Few Bright Spots Fans Notice
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Fredericksburg offered the most fleeting glimpse of a turnaround, slicing into what had been a comfortable cushion before the comeback ran out of room in the late innings. Harrisburg, meanwhile, had its own long night on the mound as the Baysox kept finding damage, leaving the Senators with too much ground to make up even in a game that stayed close on the scoreboard. For a Nationals farm system looking for anything steady, the problem keeps being the same: the bright spots are too few, and too often they disappear before they can matter. [Read more 🡒]
Nationals Waste Another Strong Start In A Brutal Ninth-Inning Meltdown
Another night with a lead in hand ended the same frustrating way for Washington, which was in position to ride a strong start all the way to the finish before the ninth inning unraveled. The Nationals had carried a 2-0 advantage into the final frame, only to watch Miami put together a six-run burst that turned a tight game into a 6-2 loss and added yet another entry to a bullpen log that has grown far too long.
The damage came with the usual blend of walks, miscues and hard contact that has made these late-inning crashes so hard to shake. Max Kranick and Tom Cosgrove were both caught in the storm, with defensive mistakes from Jorbit Vivas and Andrew Pinckney helping the Marlins extend the inning before Cosgrove was hit for a two-run homer, leaving Washington with its 35th blown save of the season and another sharp reminder that a good start has not been enough lately. [Read more 🡒]