WASHINGTON _ The Miami Marlins arrived at Nationals Park before noon Thursday, winless but ready for their getaway-day matinee series finale against Washington.
The Marlins left Nationals Park a much-longer-than-normal work day later, but with a win as they headed for their chartered train to New York City. Between and after two rain delays that combined for nearly two and a half hours, Miami beat the Nationals, 4-3, in 10 innings to avoid a season-opening sweep.
Multiple late-inning comebacks and an extra-inning double from Justin Bour gave Miami its first win of 2017. Closer A.J. Ramos finished it off by working around a Bryce Harper walk and Daniel Murphy single in the 10th.
Bour's double, his first hit of the season, scored J.T. Realmuto (two-out single) from first base. That was the last in a series of noteworthy contributions on the day from Realmuto, who went 3 for 4 with a two-run home run. His only out was a lineout. He is hitting .583 (7 for 12) through three games.
The Marlins had been held scoreless until the eighth. That's when Realmuto hit a long ball to left-center field, his second home run in as many games, to tie the game at two apiece.
Pinch-hitter Tyler Moore tied it again in the ninth _ with the Marlins down to their last strike _ with a two-out single up the middle.
As was the case in the series' first two games, the Marlins had earlier chances. They put runners on base in every inning, including multiple in the fourth, sixth and ninth. Double plays from Bour, Marcell Ozuna and even the speedy Dee Gordon helped end those innings.
Minutes after Realmuto tied it up, Zimmerman untied it against righty Junichi Tazawa with a shot to center _ the eventual game-winner. Initially ruled a triple, the ball bounced off a green fence and back onto the field. Officials determined it was a homer after a crew-chief review.
Right-hander Tom Koehler pitched well, and would have continued if not for the second rain delay that lasted 1 hour and 3 minutes. He allowed one run _ an Adam Eaton homer in the first _ in five innings, throwing only 71 pitches (42 strikes). The Nats picked up four hits and three walks against him.
Two of those walks were intentional, the first times manager Don Mattingly called for an IBB this season. Under a new rule, the intentional free pass is automatic _ with the batter taking his base immediately, as opposed to four pitches lobbed outside _ after a signal from the dugout.
The Nationals added a run in the seventh when Werth homered off right-hander Kyle Barraclough. It was the first long ball Barraclough allowed to a righty in 211 career plate appearances.
Realmuto's production came from a spot lower in the lineup than the two-hole he had occupied earlier this week. Batting sixth so, as Mattingly described it, he could serve as protection to No. 5 hitter Ozuna, Realmuto reached four times. The Nationals intentionally walked him to face Bour in the sixth.
The game, originally scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. first pitch, didn't start until 5:25 p.m. due to heavy rain and periodic thunderstorms throughout the day.
