MIAMI _ Dee Gordon's wide smile on his way back to the dugout after scoring a first-inning run said it all: Wednesday night was going to be an easy one for the Miami Marlins.
In beating the Washington Nationals, 7-0, the Marlins had a little bit of everything, from a dominant start by right-hander Vance Worley to home runs from Christian Yelich and Derek Dietrich to a big night from Gordon to sound defense all over the field.
Paired with their comeback Tuesday, the win gave the second-place Marlins a series win over the Nationals, who still lead the NL East by 12 games.
Worley, against the highest-scoring offense in the National League, faced the minimum number of batters in seven shutout innings. Washington put only two runners on against Worley, both via singles. They were erased by double plays off the bat of Bryce Harper.
Worley walked none and struck out three, including Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon looking in the second inning. The Nats hit only two fly balls, both caught by Yelich in center. Yelich charged in and dove to snag Rendon's bloop to end the fifth, and ran back and settled on the warning track to corral Harper's drive to end the seventh.
That finished Worley's longest outing in more than a year and longest scoreless start in almost three years. He lowered his ERA more than a full run, to 5.31 from 6.42.
To make it a bit sweeter, it came against the Nationals, the club with which Worley spent spring training and which cut him right before the start of the regular season.
Righty Odrisamer Despaigne pitched the final two innings. A two-out single in the ninth meant the Nationals sent 28 batters _ one more than the minimum _ to the plate.
The last out came when Giancarlo Stanton robbed Brian Goodwin of a home run, leaping at the right-field wall for the catch to preserve the shutout.
Gordon was the catalyst offensively, going 3 for 4 with a triple, an RBI, three runs scored and two stolen bases _ giving him 40 on the year. He extended his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest active one in the NL and tied for the longest of his career.
Gordon got the action started when, after a leadoff walk, he teased Nationals right-hander A.J. Cole with twitches and false starts toward second base as Stanton worked the count full. Stanton lined a double to right-center, and Gordon scored easily from first.
Cole (five innings, five runs) settled in from there, but the Marlins reached him for a pair of two-run homers in the fifth: Yelich into the bushes in center, and Dietrich into the upper deck in right.
Yelich added an RBI double against reliever Matt Albers in the sixth.
