Florida Marlins beat Washington Nationals, 6-5: MLB Recap
Omar Infante lit the lamp with the go-ahead run with a clever slide in the 11th inning, as the Florida Marlins held on for a 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals, at the Nationals Park, Washington, D.C on Friday night.
Florida hit four home runs. Gaby Sanchez and John Buck scored back-to-back home runs and Hanley Ramirez singled with two outs in the first. Sanchez then hit his seventh homer of the year to the centre and Buck followed with a home run off Tom Gorzelanny into
the Nationals’ bullpen in left-centre for his fifth home run of the year. This is for the first time Florida hit back-to-back homers this season.
Ian Desmond put the Nationals on the board to make it 3-1 game with an RBI single off Chris Volstad in the third.
However, Stanton connected in the sixth for his sixth home run with one out in the fourth to make it 4-1.
The Nationals pulled an equaliser at 4 in the fourth on Laynce Nix's fifth home run and Roger Bernadina's double to deep left.
Bernadina scored two runs for the Washington Nationals with one of the best catches anyone there had ever seen.
While Florida was excited over the slide, Washington was equally impressed Bernadina's catch.
With runners on first and second and two outs, Mike Stanton hit a ball to deep centre. Bernadina dashed to the fence, threw his glove, hopped and snared the ball, rolling over his back and lay calm on the ground for a few moments. His breath-taking
catch kept the game levelled at 4-4.
"When the ball kept carrying, I went after it. I dove. It was the only play" he could make, Bernadina said.
Logan Morrison hit a home run in the top of the eighth to give the Marlins a 5-4 lead, but Washington equalised it in the bottom half on Nix's RBI single.
Volstad gave up four runs and nine hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking one, while Gorzelanny pitched 4 2/3 innings, surrendering four runs and eight hits. He struck-out six and walked one.
After Nix doubled to right, Infante then singled off Brian Broderick (0-1) with one out and Greg Dobbs doubled to deep right. Jayson Werth sent the ball to Jerry Hairston Jr., who passed it to the, catcher Wilson Ramos. Infante slid with his head first.
He then stopped himself and reached over and about Ramos to touch the back tip of the plate with just three fingers to take a 6-5 lead.
"I was thinking I'm out for sure," Infante said. "He goes to touch me and I pull my hand around him. That's my only opportunity to be safe."
The Nationals’ shortstop Ian Desmond had a clear view of the play and was excited on Infante’s go-ahead score while, in the dugout, manager Edwin Rodriguez marvelled at his shortstop's athleticism.
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