Jesus Aguilar hit a walk-off RBI single off the second-base bag as the Miami Marlins defeated the visiting Washington Nationals 2-1 in 10 innings on Wednesday night.
The tying run was scored by placed runner Jazz Chisholm Jr., who was initially called out after Willians Astudillo’s single to right that preceded Aguilar’s game-winner.
However, on video replay it was ruled that Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz did not give Chisholm a lane to the plate. Chisholm missed touching home with his dive, but that no longer mattered once the umpires made their ruling.
Although the Marlins won, they did not get a victory for starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara, who was brilliant. The Marlins’ ace pitched nine scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1.61, best in the majors. The right-hander allowed six hits and no walks, striking out six. The only extra-base hit he gave up was a sixth-inning double to Juan Soto.
Washington’s Josiah Gray stranded seven runners in five innings, allowing six hits and one walk. He struck out six batters and pitched scoreless ball for the third time in 12 starts this year.
Miami loaded the bases on Gray with one out in the first inning. But Gray struck out Avisail Garcia and Jon Berti — both swinging — to end the threat.
In the third, Miami had two runners on with no outs but Gray got the next three batters, again fanning Berti to end the inning.
Washington threatened in the sixth as Soto hit a one-out double that one-hopped the fence in left. But Alcantara got two straight groundouts to end the frame.
The Nationals’ middle relievers performed well as Steve Cishek pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and Carl Edwards Jr. did the same over 1 1/3 frames.
In the ninth, Berti hit a leadoff single and stole second. After a walk to Miguel Rojas, Jacob Stallings tried a sacrifice bunt. But first baseman Josh Bell made a clutch play, throwing Berti out at third, and that helped Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan escape trouble.
With Alcantara out of the game, Washington went up 1-0 in the 10th as Ruiz golfed a soft RBI single to center off reliever Tanner Scott. Placed runner Luis Garcia scored from second on the play.
However, the Nationals did no further damage, and that set it up for Miami’s walk-off win in the bottom of the inning.
–Field Level Media