WASHINGTON _ Even on nights when Giancarlo Stanton does something special, the same can't always be said for the rest of the Marlins.
Stanton belted yet another homer _ his 51st _ and drove in another run with a near-miss sacrifice fly hit to the warning track. But he was the Marlins' only bright spot on Tuesday in an 8-3 loss to the Nationals.
The homer for Stanton was his 18th this month to tie the Major League record for the most home runs hit in August. He now shares a mark set in 1937 by Rudy York and has two more games remaining in which to break it.
His latest display of power wasn't enough to carry the Marlins, though.
The Nationals more than offset Stanton's impact by peppering Marlins starter Vance Worley with five runs on nine hits in fewer than five innings. They scored three more in the seventh off Junichi Tazawa.
Twice the Marlins came up empty with the bases loaded. Tomas Telis lined out in the first with two outs and the bases loaded. But it was the second of the bases-loaded situations _ with no outs in the seventh _ that proved to be most damaging. Christian Yelich, Marcell Ozuna and J.T. Realmuto all failed to deliver and the Nationals escaped unharmed.
The Marlins face All-Star pitcher Stephen Strasburg on Wednesday when they try to avoid their first sweep since the Dodgers swept them in Miami coming out of the All-Star break. Tuesday's setback for the Marlins guaranteed them their first series loss since Aug. 7-10 when the Nationals took three of four from Miami.
