Nationals' DJ Herz strikes out 13 and allows 1 hit in 6 innings for first MLB win, 4-0 over Marlins
DJ Herz struck out 13 and allowed one hit over six innings for his first major league victory, combining on a four-hitter that led the Washington Nationals over the Miami Marlins 4-0 Saturday.
Joey Meneses and Lane Thomas homered for Washington, which has won seven of eight overall and improved to 6-0 against Miami this year.
Herz (1-1), a 23-year-old left-hander who made his major league debut June 4, walked none. He struck out eight of his first 10 batters and his total was the the second-highest by a rookie for the Nationals since the team moved to Washington for 2005, trailing only Stephen Strasburg's 14 in his debut on June 8, 2010.
Herz did not make it out of the fifth inning in his first two starts. He lowered his ERA from 6.48 to 3.77.
Miami lost its fourth straight game and dropped to 2-10 in June. The Marlins are an NL-worst 23-47 and are 24 games under .500 for the first time this season. They are 3-22 when facing left-handed starters.
Miami didn't have a runner until Jake Burger's leadoff single in the fifth. Herz retired his final six batters, striking out five. He struck out the side in the third and the sixth innings.
Herz was lifted after throwing 84 pitches in six innings. Dylan Floro worked a 1-2-3 seventh, Hunter Harvey escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and Kyle Finnegan worked around Burger's two-out triple in the ninth.
Thomas doubled in the first and scored on Meneses' sacrifice fly, then homered in the third off Trevor Rogers (1-8), who allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings — his longest outing since June 10, 2021.
Thomas has six homers — he hit 28 last year — and went deep in back-to-back games for the first tine this season. He hit 28 home runs last year.
Meneses added a two-run homer off Andrew Nardi in the eighth.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marlins: RHP Bryan Hoeing (hamstring strain) struck out two in two scoreless innings in a rehabilitation appearance Friday for Class A Jupiter. … Miami selected the contract of LHP Kent Emanuel from Jacksonville and optioned RHP Shaun Anderson to the Triple-A team.
Nationals: Winker left the game in the third. … Washington signed OF Harold Ramírez to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Rochester, a day after Tampa Bay released him. Ramírez hit .268 with a homer and 13 RBIs for the Rays this season. … RHP Cade Cavalli (Tommy John surgery) threw a two-inning bullpen session.
UP NEXT
Washington rookie LHP Mitchell Parker (4-3, 3.21 ERA), who has yet to allow more than three earned runs in any of his 11 starts, faces Miami LHP Jesús Luzardo (3-5, 5.11) as the three-game series concludes Sunday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
