James Wood's 2 HRs help Nats win series vs. Marlins

Field Level Media|published: Sun 15th September, 17:07 2024

Sep 15, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Nationals relief pitcher Jose Ferrer (47) and left fielder James Wood (29) celebrate after defeating the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Rafael Suanes-Imagn Images

Rookie James Wood hit two solo home runs to lead the host Washington Nationals to their third straight win, 4-3, over the Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon.

It was the first multi-homer game of Wood's career as Washington (68-81) rallied to capture the four-game series. The Nationals also won the season-series from Miami 11-2.

MacKenzie Gore (9-12) overcame a 31-pitch first inning to pick up the win, allowing just an unearned run on two hits and two walks over six innings while striking out five. Jose A. Ferrer picked up his first career save despite allowing two hits and a run in the ninth.

Jonah Bride homered and had two hits and two runs for Miami (55-95), which lost for the sixth time in its last seven games. Adam Oller (1-4) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on six hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out two as the Marlins fell to a National League-worst (11-43) against left-handed starters.

Miami took a 1-0 lead in the third when Jacob Young, battling the sun, dropped Jhonny Pereda's fly ball on the warning track for a two-base error. One out later, Pereda advanced to third on Connor Norby's single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jake Burger.

Washington parlayed four consecutive one-out hits into a 2-1 lead in the fourth. Andres Chaparro started the rally with a one-out double into the right field corner and scored on a single by Luis Garcia Jr. Jose Tena singled to send Garcia to third and Keibert Ruiz followed with an RBI single to right.

Wood, who turns 22 on Tuesday. extended the lead to 3-1 in the fifth with his first home run since Aug. 18, a 435-foot drive to center. The Marlins cut it to 3-2 in the seventh when Bride led off with his seventh home run off the back of the bullpen in left.

Wood made it 4-2 in the eighth when he hit his seventh homer of the year off Declan Cronin, a 426-foot blast to center. That insurance run proved to be key in the ninth when Bride singled with one out, advanced to third on an Otto Lopez single and scored on a David Hensley groundout. Ferrer then got pinch hitter Nick Fortes to fly out to left to end the game.

--Field Level Media