MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Trevor Rogers provided his longest outing of the season by allowing one run in six innings, and the Miami Marlins stretched their winning streak to five games with a 3-2 sweep-completing victory over the reeling Washington Nationals on Thursday.
Rogers (1-3) came in with a 6.94 ERA but lowered that to 5.09 after giving up just two hits against a Nationals lineup that has produced merely 16 runs during an eight-game losing skid.
Cole Sulser worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth to get his first save of 2022 in his first chance.
Patrick Corbin (0-4) lost again for Washington, despite his best outing of the season, with three runs — two earned — and four hits in six-plus innings.
The Marlins improved to 10-8 and are surprisingly in second place in the NL East after a 1-4 start. The Nationals, fifth in the division in each of the two seasons since winning the 2019 World Series, are there again and fell to 6-15.
Neither club was exactly perfect Thursday, by any means. Plenty of misplays, wayward pitches, etc.
The Nationals went ahead 1-0 in the first on Josh Bell’s RBI double to right after a wild pitch and a passed ball helped get César Hernández to third following a leadoff single.
Miami made it 1-all with an unearned run in the third, when the Nationals made two miscues: a throwing error on shortstop Lucius Fox — a rookie who is also 0 for 20 and drew attention by vomiting on the field during Sunday’s game — and a fielding error on center fielder Victor Robles. Jon Berti drove home the tying run with a double.
Corbin pitched into the seventh for the first time this season but that did not go well once he got there. Brian Anderson led off with a double after Robles twisted and turned and couldn’t find the ball, losing his hat and sunglasses in the process.
A scary moment came next: Corbin hit Miguel Rojas on the flap of his helmet. Rojas tried to spin out of the way and ended up face-down in the dirt near the plate. Corbin immediately dropped to his knees in front of the mound and bowed his head on the infield grass.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly and a trainer came out to check on Rojas, who rubbed the right side of his jaw while kneeling. Rojas remained in the game and eventually went to first base; as soon as he did, Nationals manager Dave Martinez walked from his dugout to the mound and removed Corbin.
Righty reliever Victor Arano entered, and Mattingly went to a left-handed pinch hitter, Jesús Sánchez, who promptly singled in the go-ahead run. After a groundout produced the first out of the inning, Arano’s wild pitch allowed another run in to give Miami a 3-1 lead.
Washington pulled within one run on consecutive doubles by Robles and Hernández, but Bell struck out to end the threat.
PREGAME MOVE
The Marlins optioned LHP Daniel Castano to Triple-A Jacksonville and recalled RHP Zach Pop from that minor league team. Pop was 1-0 with a 4.12 ERA in 50 relief appearances for Miami last season as a rookie.
UP NEXT
Marlins: Return to Miami for a six-game homestand that begins Friday against Seattle. RHP Elieser Hernandez (1-1, 5.87 ERA) starts the opener.
Nationals: Head out on a three-city, nine-game road trip, starting at San Francisco. RHP Aaron Sanchez (0-1 8.31), who played for the Giants last season, will be on the mound night for Washington. The Giants swept a four-game series at Nationals Park last week.
(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)