WASHINGTON _ The margin for error has been all throughout the Miami Marlins' season-long six-game winning streak. Their three wins against the Detroit Tigers included an extra-innings victory, a three-run comeback and a ninth-inning grand slam. They blew leads at time, dug early holes at others and stagnated on offense from time to time, and it never quite caught up to them until Friday.
The Marlins started a four-game series against the Washington Nationals by building an early lead only to let the Nationals steadily chip away until the margin was once again razor thin in the final innings _ thin enough for back-to-back eighth-inning home runs off Tayron Guerrero to turn a late lead into a 12-9 loss in Washington.
Juan Soto and slugger Matt Adams went back-to-back off the relief pitcher in the bottom of the eighth just after Miami (16-32) grasped a late lead in front of 29,173 anxious fans at Nationals Park. Second baseman Starlin Castro put the Marlins gave the Marlins a 9-8 lead on Washington (20-31) with an RBI single off relief pitcher Kyle Barraclough, leaving relief pitchers Nick Anderson and Guerrero to try to get the final outs.
Anderson (1-2) struck out Trea Turner to lead off the inning, then walked back-to-back batters, leaving Don Mattingly to dig into the bullpen once again. The manager made his third double switch of the game to insert Guerrero to face the middle of the Nationals' order. Soto started by launching a 100-mph fastball over the center-field fence to put Washington ahead for the first time at 11-9. Five pitches later, Adams cranked a 102-mph fastball to right-center.
Sean Doolittle replaced Barraclough (1-1) and immediately gave up a lead-off home run to catcher Jorge Alfaro before setting working around two more hits to notch his ninth save of the season. Miami's longest winning streak since 2016 came to an end at six games despite collecting 15 hits and matching a season-high with 10 runs.
Throughout their winning streak, the Marlins primarily won because of pitching. In the six games, Miami's starting pitchers combined to post a 1.85 ERA, the second best in MLB in the time frame. The starters won four of those games because their offense picked them up early. It didn't always mean they were pounding out double-digit hits and stringing together multi-run innings, but they were finally doing enough to support their starting staff, which entered Friday with the 11th best ERA in the majors.
The Marlins didn't waste any time Friday. Miami needed only three batters to extend its homer streak to seven consecutive games. Outfielder Garrett Cooper lashed a one-out single to left in the top of the first, and slugging third baseman Brian Anderson cranked a two-run home run to left field to give the Marlins an early 2-0 lead against Kyle McGowin.
This time, the starting pitching needed more help. Outfielder Adam Eaton immediately answered with a homer off Pablo Lopez before Miami built its lead up to 4-1 in the second. In the third, the starting pitcher came apart.
It started with the bottom of the order. McGowin came to the plate with one out against Lopez, who drove in two runs with a single an inning earlier, and the pitcher matched his counterpart. McGowin smacked a single to center, then moved to third on a double by Trea Turner and scored on an Eaton groundout. This was the setup Anthony Rendon needed to tie the game with a home run to center. An early three-run lead vanished into a 4-4 tie.
Lopez didn't even last another inning. The starting pitcher exited for Wei-Yin Chen in the fourth after giving up seven hits and four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. The bullpen couldn't handle the burden. Outfielder Curtis Granderson put the Marlins back ahead with a solo homer in fourth and Miami added three more in the fifth before the Nationals started to chip away. They got one back right away in the bottom of the fifth, then another in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Miami's bullpen gave up eight earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
