The Washington Nationals roared back from an early deficit with seven unanswered runs, highlighted by Nathaniel Lowe’s go-ahead, bases-clearing double in the eighth inning and a 400-foot blast from rookie James Wood in the ninth, to beat the Miami Marlins 7-4 on Friday night.
Trailing 4-0 after five innings, Washington chipped away before erupting for three runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth to stun Miami. Lowe’s clutch hit — a 10-pitch battle against reliever Anthony Bender — snuck just inside the left-field line with the bases loaded, giving the Nationals their first lead of the night at 5-4.
James Wood added the exclamation point in the ninth with a towering solo homer, his fifth of the season, and later in the inning, Alex Call drove a ball into the right-center gap that eluded a diving Griffin Conine, allowing Josh Bell to score from first and pushing the lead to 7-4.
Kyle Finnegan nailed down his fifth save of the season, shutting the door after Lucas Sims (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless seventh in his league-high ninth appearance.
Bender (1-1) took the loss for the Marlins, giving up two hits and one earned run in the pivotal eighth inning.
Miami did all its damage in the fifth inning. Nationals starter Mitchell Parker lost his rhythm after hitting the leadoff batter. Two bunt singles — both narrowly beating out Parker’s throws — followed, with the second one ruled an error. Xavier Edwards then smacked a two-run single up the middle, and Kyle Stowers added a two-run double down the right-field line for his second extra-base hit of the night, making it 4-0.
Parker was able to limit the damage and escape further trouble in the fifth, and the Nationals bullpen took over from there, blanking the Marlins the rest of the way. Miami had a chance to reclaim the lead in the eighth, but Edwards struck out with two runners in scoring position.
Lowe’s 10-pitch at-bat against Bender that ended with the bases-clearing double swung the game’s momentum and ignited Washington’s comeback.
Lucas Sims made his MLB-leading ninth appearance and picked up his first win of the season with a clean seventh inning.
The Nationals (now 6-5) will send right-hander Trevor Williams (1-0, 5.40 ERA) to the mound on Saturday. The Marlins (4-7) will counter with 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara (1-0, 3.72 ERA).
