Jesus Sanchez homers as Marlins hold off Nationals 4-3 to clinch series victory

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jesús Sánchez homered in the seventh inning, and the Miami Marlins held off the Washington Nationals 4-3 on Saturday.

Miami clinched its sixth series victory of the season and first since taking two of three from the Los Angeles Angels on May 23-25. The Marlins have won consecutive games for the first time since May 24-25.

Washington dropped its seventh in a row, matching a May 6-13 skid for its longest of the season.

The Nationals scored two runs in the ninth off Anthony Bender — one on a wild pitch, another on a misplayed grounder — and had the bases loaded with none out. But Bender got Amed Rosario to fly out to shallow left, and Calvin Faucher earned his seventh save when he induced James Wood to pop up to shortstop.

The Marlins used three pitchers to cover the first 2 1/3 innings before giving way to Janson Junk (1-0). The right-hander allowed only two baserunners in 5 2/3 shutout innings, the longest outing of his career. He earned his second career victory and first since July 27, 2022, when he was with the Angels.

Miami managed only a run on Liam Hicks’ third-inning RBI single in the first five innings against Washington starter Trevor Williams (3-8). Hicks and Otto Lopez opened the sixth with singles, and two batters later Eric Wagaman poked a single to right off reliever Brad Lord to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.

Sánchez’s one-out shot to right against Lord in the seventh was his sixth home run of the season.

Miami added another run in the eighth when Nationals second baseman Luis García Jr. dropped Javier Sanoja’s two-out pop up, allowing Kyle Stowers to score.

The Nationals opened the scoring with Riley Adams’ bases-loaded walk in the second.

Lopez corralled the final out despite having teammates closing in on him.

The Nationals are averaging 2.5 runs while going 2-10 in June and have scored more than three runs only twice this month.

Miami RHP Eury Perez (0-1, 12.00) faces Washington LHP MacKenzie Gore (3-5, 2.88 ERA), who is 2-2 with a 2.97 ERA in five career starts against the Marlins, as the three-game series concludes Sunday.

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