WASHINGTON _ Jose Urena had only thrown 80 pitches when his spot in the order came up in the top of the eighth inning Sunday. The starting pitcher had mostly dominated the Washington Nationals, going blow for blow with Max Scherzer to keep the Miami Marlins tied into the late innings at Nationals Park. This was, however, a chance to pounce on Washington's historically bad bullpen and end a seven-game road trip. Don Mattingly decided to go for the Nationals' throat.
Brian Anderson stepped into the on-deck circle before Miguel Rojas lifted a go-ahead sacrifice fly to right field. He stepped into the batter's box even once the Marlins had the lead only to strike out. Mattingly would entrust his bullpen to close out the 3-2 win in Washington.
Two scoreless innings from pitchers Nick Anderson and Sergio Romo, who eventually recorded his 10th save of the year, supported Urena and finished off one of Miami's most complete wins of the season. The Marlins (17-34) put together enough offense against Max Scherzer to get into the bullpen early, Urena kept the Nationals (22-32) off balance just enough and Washington, rather than Miami, made the self-inflicted, late-inning mistakes that decide a game.
Urena (3-6) continued his May turnaround on Memorial Day by leaning heavily on his sinker to get through seven innings despite some command issues. Before Mattingly pinch hit for him in the top of the eighth, Urena had thrown only 48 of his 80 pitches for strikes. Still, the Nationals only scratched out a pair of runs against the starting pitcher in a shaky fifth inning. Otherwise, he managed to keep Miami within one run when Washington turned to its bullpen.
The Nationals' first option was Tanner Rainey for the top of the seventh and immediately the crowd of 21,048 grew antsy. The relief pitcher issued a leadoff walk to Rojas and pitching coach Paul Menhart rushed out to the mound for a meeting.
After an error by slugger Matt Adams and a lineout by outfielder Curtis Granderson, Harold Ramirez stepped to the plate with one out and a runner on third. In the first inning of his 12th career game, the outfielder collected his 16th hit and briefly pushed his batting average past .400. All he needed in this at-bat was a groundout and he came through, beating out a double-play opportunity to let Rojas tie the game at 2-2 with an unearned run. Next up: Kyle Barraclough.
The former Marlins relief pitcher quickly got one out, then coughed up a single to second baseman Starlin Castro. With a runner on first and one out, the Nationals made another gaffe.
Corner infielder Martin Prado slapped a grounder to the shortstop against Barraclough and Trea Turner made the easy scoop, only to sail his throw over Adams' head at first base and put runners on the corner. Rojas delivered his sac fly two batters later to put Miami ahead for good with another unearned run.
It was all possible because of how Urena battled with Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner. Urena regularly touched 97 mph with his sinker and threw it 57 times to carve through Washington's lineup. Three of the right-handed pitcher's four strikeouts came with the sinker, and Urena held the Nationals to just four hits and one walk.
He also threw too many balls. The right-handed pitcher fell behind three times in the first four innings alone and only threw a first-pitch strike to six batters in those early frames.
It caught up to him in the fifth. Urena issued a leadoff walk to catcher Kurt Suzuki, then fell behind 2-1 against Gerardo Parra. Urena left Parra a sinker in the middle of the zone and the slugger launched it to right field for a double. Second baseman Brian Dozier lifted Urena's next pitch to center for a sacrifice fly to tie Marlins at 1-1 with Scherzer coming to the plate.
Scherzer is one of the best hitting pitchers in the sport and Urena couldn't get a first-pitch strike to him either. The starting pitcher got a 1-1 count and slapped a go-ahead single the opposite way to put Washington on top 2-1.
Scherzer only lasted one more inning, though. Miami knocked the six-time All-Star around for seven hits, so he crossed the 100-pitch threshold after 100 innings. The Nationals' MLB-worst bullpen took over in the top of the seventh. The Marlins' rally could finally begin.
