For the second time this season, the Washington Nationals swept the division rival Miami Marlins, this time in three games at home on Father’s Day Weekend. The Nats previously swept the Marlins in four games on the road on April 26-29.
Washington outscored Miami 15-2 this weekend and is now 7-0 against them this season, with six games still to play in September. The Nationals have also won eight of their last nine and are now 35-36 and even closer to a National League Wild Card spot.
This series saw very strong pitching from Washington as they only gave up two combined runs, which both came on infield singles. The offense also contributed for an 8-1 win on Friday, a 4-0 victory on Saturday, and a 3-1 win on Sunday.
In Friday’s victory, the Nationals offense went off with 13 hits and eight runs, as Lane Thomas hit a three-run homer and both C.J. Abrams and Joey Meneses hit 2-RBI singles in the third inning, while Jesse Winker later had an RBI single of his own.
MacKenzie Gore took the mound for this game and had 10 strikeouts through seven innings to improve to 6-5 on the season for Washington.
In Saturday’s shutout win, the pitching was the biggest highlight as rookie D.J. Herz finished with 13 strikeouts through six scoreless innings, becoming the fourth Nationals pitcher with 13+ Ks and 0 walks in a game after Max Scherzer (4), Stephen Strasburg (2), and John Patterson (1).
This was the third Major League start and the first win for the lefty Herz, who was originally acquired in a midseason trade along with shortstop Kevin Made from the Chicago Cubs for Jeimer Candelario last summer.
Batting-wise, Meneses combined for three RBIs on a sacrifice fly in the first inning and then a two-run homer in the eighth, as he now leads the ballclub with 36 RBIs in 2024. Meanwhile, Thomas had a home run of his own in the bottom of the third, and Ildemaro Vargas finished with two hits in the contest.
Finally, on Father’s Day, the Nationals had eight hits as Thomas homered for the third straight contest, bringing his home run total to seven in 2024, while Jacob Young hit his first home run of his MLB career, and Vargas had a double that drove in a run.
Pitching-wise, Mitchell Parker once again looked solid as he went six full innings and struck out four Marlins batters to improve to 5-3 in his rookie season. Derek Law and Robert Garcia then took care of business the next two innings, while Kyle Finnegan once again came through with his 20th save of the year.
With six currently active starters in the rotation, Trevor Williams has the lowest ERA of 2.22, followed by Jake Irvin with 3.00, Parker with 3.06, Gore with 3.24, Herz with 3.77, and then Patrick Corbin with 5.84. Meanwhile, original starter Josiah Gray has been on the 15-Day IL since April with an elbow injury with only two starts earlier this year.
Next up, the Nationals remain home for a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
