Marlins Error Leads To Nationals Rally, Win

Nationals 10, Marlins 7

Danny Espinosa had struck out two times on the day to extend his lead in the National League in the category.  But with two strikes and two outs in the 8th inning, Espinosa blasted a homerun to give the Nationals a lead that they would keep for the remainder of the game.  The crowd was amped up and the stadium was shaking as the Nationals went on to beat the Marlins 10-7 on Saturday night at Nats Park.  And it all started with a simple error.

In the 8th inning on a routine Adam LaRoche groundout to the firstbaseman, the Marlins pitcher Mike Dunn took his eye off the ball on the throw and dropped it allowing LaRoche to reach.  That saved out was all the Nationals needed to take it to the Marlins.

Down 6-4, the Nationals cut it to 1 on a Steve Lombardozzi single.  The next batter Tyler Moore hit a huge game-tying single, and Danny Espinosa followed it up with a 3 run shot to left field to take the lead.  Bryce Harper added another insurance run on a towering homerun to the mid-upper deck in right field.

Espinosa had 2 big errors that allowed 2 runners to score, but he picked himself up at the end of the game.

Before the 8th inning rally, it was looking like the Nationals were going to lose a 2nd straight game to the Marlins.  Jordan Zimmermann gave up 5 runs (4 earned) and couldn't make it into the 6th inning for the first time all year 21 other starts.

The offense was struggling aside from Adam LaRoche who crushed 2 more homers (hugging his son after 1), and now has homered 4 times in the last 3 days.

New Nationals catcher Kurt Suzuki got the colorful start and went 0-3 with a strikeout, including a few clutch outs.

The Nats go for the series win tomorrow afternoon...