A splendid performance by Javier Vazquez and a couple of long balls by the Mikes propelled the Marlins to a 7-5 victory over Livan Hernandez and the Nationals Wednesday Night in DC
The Fish took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Mike Stanton hit his 23rd home run of the season on a line drive to right center.
In the fourth inning, the Marlins grabbed two more runs. Greg Dobbs led off with a single, Logan Morrison and Mike Stanton walked, and John Buck hit a two-out two-run single that put the Marlins up 3-0.
Javy Vazquez held the Nationals scoreless through three innings, but in the top of the fourth, he gave up a solo shot to Laynce Nix. It was the only run Javy allowed in his seven innings of work.
Livan Hernandez walked Emilio Bonifacio to open the fifth inning, and after he gave up a single to Omar Infante, the former Fish was pulled for Ross Detwiler. Hanley Ramirez doubled off of Detwiler to score Boni, and the Marlins took a 4-1 lead.
With the way the pitching staff was handling the Nationals, it seemed a 4-1 lead would be enough for the Fish. But Mike Cameron had other ideas, and went deep twice in the final two innings. Cam led off the eighth with a solo shot, and added a two-run homer in the ninth.
As it turned out, the Marlins would need those runs.
When Steve Cishek took the mound in the bottom of the ninth, the Marlins had a six-run lead to work with, and were just three outs away from the series win. Six batters later, the Nats had cut the lead to four runs, and Jack McKeon administered the hook.
Leo Nunez took over on the mound with two on and two out, and did what he does best: scared the pants off of Fish fans with a dramatic route to a save. Leo promptly gave up a two-run single to Michael Morse, and suddenly the tying run was up to bat. Laynce Nix hit a heart-stopping fly ball to right that went about as far as a ball can go without being a home run, but Stanton caught it at the wall, and Leo nailed down his 29th save of the season. By the skin of his teeth.
The Fish are on a four-game winning streak, are just two games under .500, and go for the series sweep in DC Thursday afternoon.