Luis Arraez had five hits, including a two-run homer, and the visiting Miami Marlins defeated the Washington Nationals 6-5 on Friday in the opener of a three-game series
Arraez scored twice and raised his major-league-leading average to .390.
The Marlins broke a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning. Yuli Gurriel drew a one-out walk against Carl Edwards Jr. (1-3), and Joey Wendle singled
Jon Berti struck out, but pinch hitter Garrett Cooper hit a single up the middle. Shortstop CJ Abrams knocked it down but couldn't field it cleanly. Gurriel came all the way around, and Abrams bounced his throw to the plate and it couldn't be handled cleanly by catcher Keibert Ruiz.
Andrew Nardi (4-1) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win, and A.J. Puk worked the ninth for his eighth save.
Lane Thomas homered and doubled for the Nationals, and Jeimer Candelario had three doubles
Miami's Sandy Alcantara gave up five runs on 10 hits over 5 1/3 innings with a strikeout and no walks as his 2023 struggles continued.
Washington starter Trevor Williams yielded five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked three.
The Marlins took a quick 2-0 lead off Williams. Arraez led off the first with a single and Jorge Soler walked. Both runners advanced on a fly to right and scored on a single by Jesus Sanchez
Thomas homered leading off the bottom of the first. Luis Garcia singled and Candelario doubled him to third. Garcia scored on a sacrifice fly by Joey Meneses to tie the game at 2.
Miami quickly regained the lead in the second. With two outs and a runner on first, Arraez homered into the Nationals' bullpen in right to make it 4-2
Candelario doubled with two outs in the third and scored on a single by Meneses to pull the Nationals within 4-3
Miami got the run back in the fourth. Jacob Stallings walked with one out, Jonathan Davis singled and Arraez singled, scoring Stallings.
The Nationals scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to forge a 5-5 tie. Dominic Smith reached on a one-out infield single, and he scored on Abrams' two-out double. Thomas then doubled home Abrams
--Field Level Media