MIA 0, WSN 7; Red hot Nationals blaze through Fish

Did Pablo López pitch horribly? No. The Nats are just that good right now. They have dominated the game of baseball this past month, and the Fish have not been the only victim. While the Marlins

do like to pull out some surprise wins, the way the Nats have been playing and with Stephen Strasburg on the mound, Saturday’s loss seemed inevitable.

Pablo López: 3 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 3 HR

Stephen Strasburg: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 14 K

The Nationals plucked away at López over the first three innings of the game. The first inning consisted of back-to-back home runs from Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto. Rendon's at bat was a 9 pitch battle which ended with a fastball near the middle of the plate being crushed. Soto jumped on the second pitch he saw which was a high breaking ball and he sent it flying to the same spot Rendon did.

López got pegged in the next inning for another run. This time it was started with a hit-by-pitch, followed by two singles. The RBI single was off the bat of Strasburg who jumped on the second fast ball he saw.

The third inning was only worse for López. Another hit-by-pitch started things off. Rendon was the one hit and Soto made sure it paid dividends by doubling Rendon home, 4-0 Nats. Kurt Suzuki who was hit in his first at bat re-payed the favor with his own solo shot against López, 5-0 Nats. López finished the third, but was pulled after that.

Wei-Yin Chen to everyone's surprise pitched four innings of one hit ball. A miracle in my book. Adam Conley provided Rendon with his second home run of the game in the eighth inning.

The Marlins offense was desolate. They got their only two hits in the first inning. Their two hits were also back to back singles between Harold Ramirez and Starlin Castro. That is a whole lot of game with nothing at the plate. Strasburg was the leading charge of this, he absolutely tore up the Fish. He struck out 14 over eight innings of big league ball.

Caleb Smith will try to stop the sweep as he faces Patrick Corbin at 1:35 ET.

Marlins vs Nationals box score (MLB.com)

Fish Picks answer key

1. Strasburg
2. Under
3. Under
4. Yes
5. Nationals