Meneses hits inside-the-park homer, Nats beat Marlins 5-4
AP - Joey Meneses hit an inside-the-park home run, Ildemaro Vargas had a go-ahead double in the eighth inning and the Washington Nationals rallied to beat the Miami Marlins 5-4 on Friday night.
Washington snapped a five-game losing streak, beating Miami at home for the first time in eight tries this season. The Nationals are 2-12 overall against the Marlins.
Lewin Díaz homered for Miami. The Marlins have lost six of eight and 15 of 19.
Marlins reliever Cole Sulser (1-4) entered a 4-4 game in the eighth and walked Meneses and allowed Luke Voit's single with one out. Vargas then lashed a shot to left-center that bounced over the wall and brought in Meneses to give Washington its first lead.
Carl Edwards Jr. (6-3) pitched a scoreless eighth for the Nationals. Kyle Finnegan handled the ninth for his ninth save in 13 attempts.
Miami starter Jesús Luzardo took a 4-0 lead into the seventh when Meneses hit one off the wall in center. It caromed off a leaping JJ Bleday and trickled down the warning track toward right, allowing Meneses time to round the bases.
It was the eighth inside-the-park homer in Nationals history and the first since Andrew Stevenson on Sept. 26, 2020.
Luzardo's night ended a batter later when he walked Voit. Reliever Tanner Scott issued two more walks and yielded Victor Robles' sacrifice fly. CJ Abrams then laced a two-run triple past a diving Brian Anderson in right to tie it.
Luzardo surrendered two runs and five hits in six innings while striking out six.
After breezing through the first inning in six pitches, Washington starter Josiah Gray gave up a single and a double to begin the second, and Bryan De La Cruz and Miguel Rojas followed with RBI groundouts. Jordan Groshans walked and Díaz crushed a first-pitch fastball to right-center to make it 4-0.
Gray allowed four runs and struck out four in five innings. He has allowed a majors-leading 37 homers this season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Nationals: DH Nelson Cruz (eye inflammation) was out of the lineup for the second consecutive game and remains day to day. … RHP Cade Cavalli (shoulder inflammation) will be shut down for 3-7 days after reporting pain upon throwing Wednesday from about 60 feet. Cavalli received a cortisone shot.
UP NEXT
Marlins: LHP Trevor Rogers (4-11, 5.35 ERA) has not won in seven starts since beating Washington on July 1, but does have a 2.95 ERA in three starts since returning from the injured list last month.
Nationals: RHP Erick Fedde (6-10, 5.24) is 4-1 with a 1.86 ERA in nine lifetime starts against Miami, though the loss came April 27 at Nationals Park.