Florida @ Washington preview
Nationals Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2010 ) Florida 3, Washington 1
The Florida Marlins' hopes of sneaking back into the playoff picture are dwindling. If only they had more games left against the Washington Nationals.
The Marlins are nine games behind the wild-card leading Atlanta Braves, a deficit they'll try to trim as they look to continue their dominance over Washington when the teams continue their series at Nationals Park.
Florida has won 11 of 16 in the season series, including the last four at Nationals Park. The Marlins can clinch their fourth consecutive series victory against the Nationals with a win on Saturday.
The teams' first meeting since their Sept. 1 brawl went off without incident Friday, as rookie Alex Sanabia and three relievers combined on a six-hitter to lead Florida to a 3-1 victory.
Clay Hensley recorded the last four outs for his first major league save. Hensley replaced Leo Nunez as the Marlins' closer last week.
Anibal Sanchez (11-9, 3.45 ERA) will try to pick up where Sanabia and the bullpen left off and add to his career-high win total.
Sanchez has dominated the Nationals throughout his career, going 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA in 12 starts against them. That includes a 1-0 mark and a 1.00 ERA in three meetings this season. Most recently, he threw seven scoreless innings at home against Washington on Aug. 31, settling for a no-decision in a 1-0 win.
The 26-year-old right-hander is coming off his worst outing of the year, though, having allowed seven runs in four innings in a 7-4 loss at the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
The Nationals counter with Jason Marquis, who looks to continue his recent success.
After nearly losing his spot in the rotation, Marquis (2-7, 7.14 ERA) has enjoyed a strong run over the past month. He hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of his last four outings and is 2-2 with a 2.25 ERA during that stretch, lowering his ERA more than seven runs from 14.33 since Aug. 14.
Most recently, the 32-year-old right-hander held the Pittsburgh Pirates to one run over six innings in an 8-1 win Sunday, earning his second consecutive victory.
The first of those back-to-back wins came Aug. 30 in Florida, where Marquis held the Marlins to three runs over 5 2/3 innings in a 9-3 win. He is 5-5 with a 6.89 ERA in 19 career appearances (12 starts) against Florida.
Florida stars Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla - who combined for five hits in Friday's series opener - have hit Marquis well. Ramirez is 7-for-14 with a homer against him, and Uggla is 3-for-7 with a homer at his expense.
Nationals outfielder Nyjer Morgan's appeal of his eight-game suspension stemming from last week's brawl was heard Friday, but he didn't receive a decision from the league.
Florida rookie first baseman Gaby Sanchez and Washington reliever Doug Slaten will miss the rest of the series after dropping the appeals of their three-game suspensions Friday.