Fish Wrap - Marlins 9, Nationals 3

Behind a solid outing from Josh Johnson and a four-RBI game from the suddenly blazing hot Hanley Ramirez, the Marlins finally broke their series-losing streak to take two out of three from the Nationals.

Josh Johnson wasn't exactly dominant Sunday afternoon in the rubber match of the Marlins series with the Nats, but he got the job done, tossing six solid innings and allowing just two runs on three hits and striking out eight.

As with the first two games in the series, the Nationals were the first on the board. JJ issued two walks to open the second inning, and gave up a double to Ian Desmond and an RBI groundout to Lannan to put the Marlins in a two-run hole.

Thanks to Hanley's bat--which seems to instinctively realize that the frigid month of April is over--the hole enjoyed a very brief stay. Hanley hit a three-run shot off of starter John Lannan in the Marlins' four-run third inning to erase the two-run deficit.

And he was only warming up.

After RBI doubles from Cody Ross and Brett Carroll added two runs to the Marlins score in the fifth, Lannan's afternoon on the mound was done. He lasted five innings, giving up six earned runs on nine hits. 

Hanley immediately went to work on the Nationals bullpen, going deep once again in the sixth with a solo shot off of reliever Miguel Batista for his fourth RBI of the afternoon. The blast made it Hanley's tenth career multi-home run game, which ties him with Preston Wilson for second-most multi-homer games in Marlins history. 

With a five-run lead to work with, Burke Badenhop took over for JJ and tossed 1 2/3 innings in relief. Hop allowed one run to the Nationals in the eighth before Fredi brought in Hunter Jones to record the final out of the inning. It was a less-than-impressive debut for the reliever, who walked Justin Maxwell on just four pitches, and was promptly yanked from the game. Chris Leroux came in to strikeout Desmond and end the inning.

The Marlins added on to their already lopsided score off of Brian Bruney in the bottom of the eighth. The Fish-friendly reliever walked Brett Carroll (who finished the game 1-for-2 with an RBI), and gave up a single to Cameron Maybin to advance Brett to third. Mike Lamb drove them both in with an RBI double before Matt Capps recorded the final out of the inning. 

Leo Nunez shut the Nats down in the ninth to secure Josh Johnson's third straight decision, and after dropping three series in a row, the Fish took two out of three from the Nats.