Right-hander Drew Storen gave up three hits, one a home run and two runs total, both earned, and he needed 27 pitches to get through the ninth, but the 26-year-old Washington Nationals' '09 1st Round pick earned his first save since August 22, 2013.
Was his first-year manager nervous watching Storen, who earned the 56th save of his five-year MLB career, give up an opposite field home run by Miami Marlins' slugger Giancarlo Stanton, a two-out single by Marcell Ozuna, an RBI double by Adeiny Hechevarria and a two-out walk to Jarrod Saltalamacchia before he got pinch hitter Reed Johnson to ground into an inning-ending force at second base?
"Not nervous," Matt Williams told reporters after the 4-3 win in Marlins Park. "They've made a real habit of doing that type of thing. Not just to us, but to other people too. So, certainly the Stanton homer and the ball kind of inside the line at first [by Hechavarria]. But Drew made a pitch when he had to make pitch and that's all that matters for us."
Though it was somewhat surprising to see Storen on the mound instead of 34-year-old closer Rafael Soriano, who blew his fourth save of the season on Friday night in the series opener in Miami, Williams explained afterwards that Soriano was given the day off after throwing a total of 70 pitches over three outings in four days including 27 in the ninth inning on Monday.
"We decided to give him a couple of days," Williams said. "Not just Monday, the amount of pitches he threw Monday and certainly his workload before that, we decided to give him a couple of days and once Tanner [Roark] got deep in the game then we were able to go to [Tyler Clippard] and Drew [Storen] to close it out, so Soriano should be ready to go tomorrow and it all worked out the way we wanted it to work out."
Roark went seven innings for the fifth straight start and allowed just one run for the fourth straight outing, earning his 11th win of the season in a 112-pitch effort in which he walked two, gave up three hits, one a home run by Jordan Valdespin and struck out seven.
"Tanner just continues to pitch well for us," the Nats' manager said.
"Does a lot of things well out there. He gave up the home run to Valdespin, but other than that he pitched really well and kept us in the game and allowed us to get some opportunities."
The Nationals scored a run in the first when Anthony Rendon doubled to drive Denard Span in and Valdespin tied it up at 1-1 in the fourth. It stayed that way until the Nats rallied in a three-run eighth.
The Marlins chipped away at the Nationals' 4-1 lead in the ninth when Storen took the mound, but fell short of their second comeback win of the series though they took two of three from the NL East's first place team.
"The Marlins are a no-quit, very talented team," Williams said. "They pitch well, they play good defense, they've got speed, they've got power, they do a lot of things right. They played us very well.
"I think that Monday's game was one of 'those games.' I take solace in the fact that we gave ourselves an opportunity a couple of those days to win games, so that's all we ask for, that opportunity to have a lead going into the last inning."
The Nationals improved to 6-5 against the Marlins this season with the win and 58-47 overall on the year.