Hampson’s 2-run HR caps 11th inning rally and sends Marlins past Nationals 8-5

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This article was published 01/09/2023 (797 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Garrett Hampson hit a two-run homer to cap a four-run rally in the 11th inning, and the Miami Marlins defeated the Washington Nationals 8-5 on Friday night.

Miami (68-67) moved over .500 with its second straight win over the Nationals. The Marlins entered the game three games back of San Francisco in the race for the NL’s third and final wild-card spot.

“Guys know what’s at stake,” Hampson said. “Guys know the long grind of a season. This last month here, it would be disappointing if we didn’t finish off strong because we feel like we’ve had a really good year and played really good baseball. We know what’s in this clubhouse and we know we’re a playoff-caliber team.”

CJ Abrams, Lane Thomas and Travis Blankenhorn hit solo homers for Washington, which has lost three in a row for the first time since a five-game skid July 3-7. The Nationals have dropped five of their last six.

Miami second baseman Luis Arraez went 2 for 4 with a walk and raised his major league-leading average to .350. He remained tied with Seattle’s Julio Rodriguez for the third-most multi-hit games this season with 48, behind only Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. (58) and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman (54).

Miami mustered just one hit in the first five innings against Washington’s bullpen before former Marlin Robert Garcia (0-1) entered to start the 11th. Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit a leadoff single, and Bryan De La Cruz plated automatic runner Jake Burger with another hit. Pinch-hitter Jon Berti’s single scored Chisholm, but De La Cruz was thrown out trying to get to third.

Mason Thompson relieved Garcia, and Hampson sent a 2-0 sinker to left-center for his second homer of the season.

“The spot starts we’ve been giving him all year, whether it’s third base, shortstop, second, left, center, it feels like he’s just come through,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said.

Both teams scored in the 10th. With one out and runners on second and third, Josh Bell hit a sharp grounder to a drawn-in Abrams at shortstop. Abrams didn’t have a play on Xavier Edwards at the plate, but threw out Arraez at third.

The Nationals responded when Thomas singled in Abrams, the Nationals’ automatic runner, to lead off against Tanner Scott (7-4).

Arraez singled off Jake Irvin to lead off the game and scored on Chisholm’s RBI single. Miami sandwiched two walks around Arraez’s double in the third to load the bases, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Burger and a force-out by Chisholm.

Irvin, a rookie right-hander, allowed three runs in five innings, striking out four in his seventh consecutive no-decision.

Abrams led off the first with a homer to right off Eury Perez. Thomas and Blankenhorn went deep in the third.

Perez yielded three runs in 4 2/3 innings and struck out five.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins: OF Jorge Soler (right hip tightness) was out of the lineup for the third day in a row, but Schumaker said he was available off the bench. … LHP Andrew Nardi played catch two days after taking a line drive off his hand. … Miami recalled Edwards and RHP Geoff Hartlieb from Triple-A Jacksonville. … Schumaker said he anticipated RHP Johnny Cueto (viral infection) will be activated “soon.”

Nationals: Washington recalled RHP Amos Willingham from Triple-A Rochester and selected Blankenhorn from Rochester. To make room on the roster, the Nationals requested unconditional release waivers on RHP Rico Garcia, who had a 12.00 ERA in three games and had been on the injured list since July 30.

ROBERTSON’S RESET

Miami RHP David Robertson pitched a scoreless sixth after allowing eight runs over his last four outings and taking the loss in three of the games. It was the first time Robertson pitched before the seventh inning since serving as an opener for Tampa Bay on Sept. 24, 2021.

“He needed that,” Schumaker said. “You could tell he was excited coming in the dugout. It kind of took the weight off his shoulders a little bit.”

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Marlins: Did not announce a starting pitcher for Saturday’s game.

Nationals: RHP Trevor Williams (6-8, 4.82) is 0-2 with a 5.19 ERA in three starts against the Marlins this season.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb