After producing perhaps the most electric swing of the 2023 Marlins season in the previous game, it was once again Jorge Soler who made the difference for Miami on Wednesday night, as they beat the Washington Nationals 4-3 and clinched the series win.
On the bump for Miami was Edward Cabrera, who made his 9th start of the season. He was coming off an uneven start in Arizona in which he sailed through the first three innings but had to be taken out in the fourth after walking four batters in the frame.
This start went much better, as he managed not to allow a single walk in his five innings of work. It was the first time he didn’t allow a walk in a start since October 1, 2022.
Cabrera’s trouble began in the 2nd in this one, but not due to control. After a one-out single by Jeimer Candelario, former Marlin Corey Dickerson made his presence known with a two-run blast to right, which gave the Nats an early 2-0 lead.
432 feet. 109 off the bat.
Smoked. pic.twitter.com/xC9cPmhoJn
— Isaac Azout (@IsaacAzout) May 17, 2023
Dickerson made his first appearance since April 1 as he had been recovering from a right calf strain.
Offense!
Pitching for Washington was MacKenzie Gore, and Marlins manager Skip Schumaker had good things to say about the young lefty pregame: “I was with him in San Diego for a number of years. He’s a good kid. One of the top prospects that came over there. Really special talent and now finally coming into his own.”
Miami quickly responded to Dickerson’s homer in the second. Bryan De La Cruz drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jean Segura followed with a single, and Yuli Gurriel lifted a sac fly to left that scored De La Cruz, which cut the Nationals lead in half.
A couple of innings later, the Marlins rallied for more. After Luis Arraez led the frame off with a single (his 55th hit of the season), Jorge Soler ambushed a first-pitch Gore fastball for a 2-run shot. It was his 11th on the season and it gave Miami a 3-2 lead.
Jorge Soler with a 2-run shot. His eleventh on the season. His second in as many nights.
Miami has a 3-2 lead.
407 feet. pic.twitter.com/XcPy6m1qSC
— Isaac Azout (@IsaacAzout) May 17, 2023
A couple of innings after that, Soler would get on via a walk, and De La Cruz drove him in with an RBI double. That double extended his hit streak to 11 games, a career high.
Bryan De La Cruz has an 11-game hit streak. He drives an RBI double to right to score Soler and extend Miami’s lead to 4-2
— Isaac Azout (@IsaacAzout) May 18, 2023
Edward controlled the game
After the Dickerson home run in the second, Cabrera settled in beautifully. He retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced, including six K’s on the game. His velocity maxed out at 97.7 mph and got 18 swings-and-misses on Wednesday.
“He had a little blister at the end,” Skip told the media postgame (specifying that it was on Cabrera’s right middle finger). “That’s why we took him out. Just precautionary, but he wasn’t really affected today. Pounded the strike zone and that’s why he had the stat line he did.”
His final line was: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K.
This was arguably his “cleanest” start of the year. He’s lined up to start again on May 22 in Colorado against the Rockies.
14-1 in one run games
Washington did manufacture a run in the 7th against Miami’s bullpen, but didn’t threaten again. Andrew Nardi, JT Chargois, Tanner Scott, and Dylan Floro (3rd save) combined for 4 innings of 1-run baseball to close the game out.
Extras:
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
- Dating back to the beginning of 2022, the Marlins are now 17-4 in their head-to-head matchups with Washington.
- Luis Arraez recorded his 500th career hit on Wednesday. He did it in his 428th game, becoming the 7th active player to reach 500 hits within their first 428 games, joining Bo Bichette, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout, José Altuve, Whit Merrifield, and Jose Abreu. Arraez also recorded his 16th multi-hit game of the season.
- JT Chargois made his first appearance since April 9 as he returned from a right oblique strain. “Thank God we got him back with (A.J.) Puk going down,” Skip said. “Having a guy that can get righties and lefties out, put him in anywhere. It’s big.”
- Segura now has a 4-game hit streak and is 6 for his last 14. Looks like the couple of off-days did well for him.
Jean Segura finally looking like JEAN SEGURA on this homestand
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) May 17, 2023
Miami is back over .500 at 22-21 while Washington fell to 18-25. Cabrera earned his third win on the season while Gore suffered his third loss. The Marlins will look to complete their second sweep of the season tomorrow afternoon with rookie Eury Perez on the bump. He’ll make his second career start at 1:10 pm.