Marlins Knock Out Nationals, 5-3
MIAMI (CBSMiami) — The red hot Miami Marlins continued their torrid May Monday by knocking out the NL East-leading Washington Nationals, 5-3.
The Marlins were led by Giancarlo Stanton who tweaked his swing a bit before the calendar turned to May and has been homering almost at will since then. Stanton hit his 11th homer of May Monday, which is one short of the Marlins record for one player in a month.
Stanton tied the score in the sixth with his homer, his 12th of the year. Logan Morrison homered and scored twice, and Hanley Ramirez had three hits and a sacrifice fly.
Reliever Edward Mujica got five outs while facing only four batters, and struggling closer Heath Bell pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save in 12 chances. Bell had failed to finish the ninth in his previous two outings.
The Marlins improved to 19-8 since May 1, best in the majors, and broke the franchise record for victories in any month.
They're 5-9 against the NL East, while Washington fell to 11-4 within the division.
Carlos Zambrano (3-3) rebounded from his worst start of the year, allowing three runs and seven hits in six-plus innings to pick up the victory. Jordan Zimmermann (3-5) hit his first career homer but couldn't hold a 3-1 lead. He gave up four runs in six innings, including both Miami homers.
Zambrano took a 4-3 lead into the seventh but departed after the first two batters reached. Left fielder Coghlan made a running catch of Bryce Harper's fly, and after Mujica entered the game, Ryan Zimmerman grounded into a double play.
Zambrano, standing in the dugout, let out a celebratory "Wooo!" The Nationals went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Jose Reyes' hustle produced an insurance run for Miami in the seventh. He kept running after hitting a blooper to short center and barely beat the throw to second for a double. He took third on a groundout to the left side, then scored without a play when center fielder Rick Ankiel juggled Ramirez's shallow fly in his haste to throw home.
