The Miami Marlins had a two run lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning but wound up dropping Saturday’s game 10-7 to the Washington Nationals. Mike Dunn allowed six runs, all unearned in the eighth after he committed an error to get the rally started. It was an ugly inning for the lefty as he allowed back-to-back homeruns during the comeback by Washington. The loss put the Marlins back to ten games under .500. On an up note for Miami, Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 23 games which ties for longest in MLB this year.
Mark Buehrle put together a solid effort allowing four runs in six innings on the mound. The veteran gave up seven hits while walking two and striking out a pair. Home runs were the theme in this one as Buehrle allowed two of his own. Heath bell continued his impressive run with a perfect seventh inning before Dunn entered in the aforementioned eighth inning. The error on Dunn was a missed catch and what followed was a meltdown of epic proportions. The Nationals had four hits to go along with their six runs and Dunn was unable to finish the inning. Miami was forced to turn to Carlos Zambrano for the final out in the eighth.
Bryan Petersen had a big day at the plate going 3-5 with a double while batting out of the lead-off spot. Petersen also scored a run and should be right back in the top spot of the lineup again on Sunday. Reyes also had three hits including his 26th double of the season. It was the third straight multi-hit game and second consecutive three hit game for the Marlins’ shortstop. Carlos Lee and John Buck added doubles for Miami as well.
The Marlins will try and split the series on Sunday when they take on Stephen Strasburg. Scheduled to start for Miami is Ricky Nolasco.
About Larry Walansky
