WASHINGTON — The Miami Marlins went from pitching a no-hitter through six innings to needing extra innings to beat the Washington Nationals 7-4 on Sunday at Nationals Park.
Pablo Lopez went to the mound in the seventh inning having not allowed a hit despite not having his best command. He maneuvered around traffic caused by walks and hit batters with the help of his defense.
Things got interesting after that.
The seventh inning: The Nationals broke up the no-hit bid, then broke up the shutout, then tied the game.
The eighth inning: The Nationals took the lead on a Josh Bell solo home run on a hanging Steven Okert slider.
The top of the ninth: Marlins outfielder Jesus Sanchez, down to his final strike, hit a go-ahead two-run home run.
The bottom of the ninth: Victor Robles hits a two-out game-tying single against Tanner Scott.
The top of the 10th: The Marlins led off the inning with four consecutive hits from Jacob Stallings, Brian Anderson, Jon Berti and Joey Wendle to score three runs.
The bottom of the 10th: Dylan Floro threw a perfect inning to earn his first save of the season and seal the Marlins’ fourth consecutive win. Miami is now 37-40 on the season, including 11-1 against the Nationals (29-52).
Now, a little more nuance...
Before Sanchez’s at-bat, Avisail Garcia walked on a full-count two outs in the ninth to put the game-tying run on the basepaths. Billy Hamilton pinch-ran for Garcia to make his Marlins debut. Sanchez fell behind in the count 0-2 and then took two pitches from Tanner Rainey before sending a 97.2 mph four-seam fastball 373 feet to right field for his 11th home run of the season. It was the second time in the past four games the Marlins hit a go-ahead home run with two outs in the ninth. Garcia did it against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
Scott began the bottom of the ninth with a Luis Garcia groundout before hitting Keibert Ruiz with a pitch and walking Maikel Franco to put runners on first and second. Alcides Escobar pinch-ran for Ruiz.
An Ehire Adrianza fielder’s choice moved Escobar to third base before Robles hit a line drive to left-center field to tie the game.
In addition to his eighth-inning home run, Bell also broke up Lopez’s no-hit bid with a leadoff double in the the seventh down the left-field line. He scored and broke up the shutout when Nelson Cruz hit a single to left-center. Garcia then hit a double to right and Lopez hit Yadiel Hernandez with a pitch with one out to load the bases before Marlins manager Don Mattingly pulled Lopez from the game.
Anthony Bass gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Adrianza that scored Cruz — the run was charged to Lopez because he allowed Cruz to reach base — before getting Robles to ground out to limit the damage to the one run.
But it wasn’t a smooth ride for Lopez even before that seventh inning despite the no-hit bid to that point.
Lopez walked three batters and hit two more over the first four innings, during which time the infield turned three double plays. He was at 37 pitches after two innings and 68 after five. He finished the game throwing 102 pitches — eight shy of his career high.
A Jon Berti RBI fielder’s choice in the third inning and a Luke Williams home run in the fifth accounted for the Marlins’ other runs before Sanchez’s go-ahead home run and the three-run outburst in extra innings.
