by Anthony Amobi, Staff Writer
WASHINGTON - It was an ugly day weather-wise in the Washington region, and the result of the game didn't bring much happiness for fans who might have suffered through it.
The Washington Nationals lost their fifth straight game as they were defeated by the Florida Marlins, 5-0. Thursday's game was delayed by rain for nearly two hours, and Washington struggled early, never recovered and Florida eased their way to a three-game sweep.
Livan Hernandez (L, 8-8), who has mostly been a pleasant surprise for the Nationals despite his win-loss record, struggled through the first couple of innings. He went 6 1/3 innings on the night, and gave up three runs on seven hits.
Meanwhile, Florida starter Ricky Nolasco (W, 13-8) earned the victory as he stymied the Nationals for six shutout innings. He struck out eight while walking one. The bullpen truimervate of Jose Veras, Clay Hensley and Burke Bradenhop threw three scoreless innings to send the Marlins (57-56) one game over .500 on the season.
Hernandez kept his team in the game despite his off-night, but the Washington offense didn't return the favor. They mustered six hits on the night, but left seven men on base and were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
They had quite a few chances to chip at Florida's lead throughout the game, but could not execute. The Nationals had a runner in scoring position in the first, fourth, along with the seventh and had the bases loaded in the fifth inning, but Nolasco always found a way out of trouble.
The fifth inning was more perhaps more galling to fans as Washington seemed to have a good rally going and looked to have Nolasco on the ropes. Ivan Rodriguez started the frame with an infield single, and then Willie Harris walked to put two men on base with no outs. The Marlins got two outs before Nolasco plunked Ian Desmond to bring up Adam Dunn.
With the bases loaded, Dunn struck out, quandering Washington's best chance to come back from their deficit.
As for the Marlins, they started their scoring early against Washington.
The Fish got on the board in the second inning by touching up Hernandez for two runs. Mike Stanton - who on Wednesday had a productive night with a 5-for-5 night at with the plate with a home run - struck again, this time with a two-run shot. He plated Dan Uggla, who was at first.
Stanton's home run was reviewed as it seemed to seemed to go out over the wall in center, rattle a bit, and bounce back in. Initially, he was awarded a triple. After the replay, he got credited with his 12th homer of the season.
Florida brought on the pain in the third as Cody Ross's RBI-single gave them a 3-0 cushion.
They added two more runs in eighth and ninth innings off Washington pitcher Craig Stammen. Stammen, who was moved into the bullpen recently after a stint as a starter for the past couple of seasons, struggled with his command and allowed one run to come in off a wild pitch in the eighth inning. He allowed Florida to score their fifth run of the game in the ninth off an Uggla RBI-single.
The Nats start a three-game weekend set with the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at Nationals Park. John Lannan (3-5, 5.44) hosts fellow lefty Joe Saunders (7-11, 4.42) at 7:05 pm.
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