Marlins Come Up Short To Nationals 7-5
MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – Juan Soto took over the NL batting lead, getting three hits and three RBIs to help the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 7-5 Wednesday night.
Soto singled, doubled, and hit his 27th homer, raising his average to .321 and passing former teammate Trea Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who began the night at .318.
Soto walked twice and with 130 tied Bryce Harper's team season record, set in 2018.
Josiah Gray (1-2), a 23-year-old rookie right-hander acquired from the Dodgers for Max Scherzer and Turner on July 30, got his first big league win.
He allowed two runs and six hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and two walks.
He nearly got his second big league hit when he lined the ball into right field in the sixth only for right fielder Jesús Sánchez to grab the ball on one bounce and throw him out at first.
Yadiel Hernández and Luis García also went deep for the Nationals, who won the season series 11-8.
Washington remains last in the NL East, just behind Miami. At 63-89, the Nationals are nearing their poorest record since the 2010s 69-93.
Elieser Hernández (1-3) gave up four runs and seven hits in four-plus innings.
Yadiel Hernández homered leading off the second, Soto hit a two-run homer in the third — a drive into the right-field upper deck — and García made it 4-0 with a leadoff homer in the fourth.
Miami closed to 4-2 on Lewin Díaz's run-scoring single in the bottom half and Sánchez's RBI single in the sixth, but Washington widened its lead in the seventh on Soto's run-scoring single, Josh Bell's sacrifice fly, and Hernández's RBI double against Zach Thompson.
Nick Fortes' pinch-hit, two-run homer, and Sandy León's one-out drive off Ryne Harper in the ninth closed the gap before Tanner Rainey came in and retired Miguel Rojas and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on groundouts for his second save.
CEILING
Chisholm hit a sixth-inning ball that bounced off the roof in foul territory and was caught by first baseman Josh Bell, but ground rules say a ball is dead once it hits the roof outside the fair territory.
ROSTER MOVE
The Marlins selected the contract of RHP Luis Madero from Triple-A Jacksonville and designated RHP Taylor Williams for assignment.
UP NEXT
Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (8-11, 6.11) will start the opener of a four-game series at Cincinnati Thursday.
Marlins: RHP Edward Cabrera (0-2, 5.31) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game series at Tampa Bay on Friday.
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