Braxton Garrett pitched six strong innings, Bryan De La Cruz had a two-run single and the Miami Marlins defeated the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Saturday.
Joey Wendle had two hits for Miami (40-31), which has won three straight and is nine games over .500 for the first time since July 31, 2016.
“Playing winning baseball, it’s freaking awesome,” Garrett said. “It’s fun being in the dugout. It’s just a fun team to be around all the time. Obviously winning cures all and we’re finally getting a good taste of it.”
Luis Arraez, who went 5 for 5 with a homer on Friday night, was 1 for 4 with an intentional walk, leaving his major league-leading batting average at .388.
Jonathan Davis walked leading off the Miami seventh against Chad Kuhl (0-4), and Nick Fortes singled to put runners at the corners. With one out, Washington walked Arraez to load the bases and Kuhl then walked Jorge Soler to force in the go-ahead run. Fortes scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.
De La Cruz snapped an 0-for-21 skid when he added a two-run single with the bases loaded in the ninth.
“De La’s been fighting,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He didn’t like his at-bats in Seattle. He liked them just OK yesterday and then he felt really good today. Just didn’t really have much success, but credit to him, he goes at-bat to at-bat. Felt really good going into that last at-bat and the two RBIs there was a big deal.”
Garrett (3-2) allowed one run and four hits. He walked one and struck out eight. Over his past seven starts, the left-hander, who began the season as the long man in the bullpen, is 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 32 innings. Miami is 6-1 in those games.
“I know I’ve pitched pretty well,” Garrett said. “I just try not to get too high or too low. I just know how hard this game is and it can come back and punch me in the face as soon as anything.”
A.J. Puk got three outs for his ninth save.
Lane Thomas doubled leading off the Washington eighth against Tanner Scott, and Luis Garcia’s infield single put runners on first and third. Scott got Jeimer Candelario to ground into a double play that scored Thomas, making it 3-2.
Garcia also had a triple for last-place Washington, which fell to 0-5 against Miami this season and has lost 10 of its last 12 overall.
“It’s almost like we’ve got to play perfectly,” manager Dave Martinez said. “And that’s tough to do every night. If we don’t chase, do some other things, the outcome might be a little better. We’ve got to keep playing hard.”
Nationals rookie Jake Irvin, skipped last time through the rotation, allowed one run and four hits over five innings in his best outing since May 8. He struck out four and walked two.
A sacrifice fly by Davis gave the Marlins a 1-0 lead in the second, but the Nationals tied it on an RBI single by Joey Meneses in the fourth.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: RHP Johnny Cueto (biceps tightness) allowed four runs and seven hits over 3 2/3 innings in a rehab start for Double-A Pensacola on Friday. The runs came on a first-inning grand slam. He threw 62 pitches and struck out one batter.
ROSTER MOVES
Marlins: Placed INF Jean Segura (left hamstring strain) on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Thursday, and called up infield prospect Jacob Amaya from Triple-A Jacksonville. … Placed RHP Edward Cabrera (right shoulder impingement) on the 15-day IL, retroactive to Wednesday, and recalled right-hander Huascar Brazobán from Jacksonville.
UP NEXT
Miami left-hander Jesus Luzardo (5-5, 4.17 ERA) starts the series finale Sunday against lefty Patrick Corbin (4-7, 4.81).
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