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Nationals' lineup vs the Marlins + Dusty Baker on the offensive upswing...

Dusty Baker talked after each of the Washington Nationals' last two wins about the fact that they scored all their runs in bunches. While the Nats' skipper has been pleased with the production, he said he would like to see them add on a few insurance runs.

By Patrick Reddington
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Dusty Baker talked after the Washington Nationals took the second and third games of their three-game game set with the Mets in New York's Citi Field about what the series win meant going forward.

"It just means that we'd like to do the same thing in Miami," Baker said. "We're just starting this road trip, so we've just got to keep it rolling. We've got some guys who are starting to swing the bat pretty good in this series.

"We got the big seven and then the big four today, but we've got to find a way to add on some runs and some insurance runs in the mid and late innings..." -Dusty Baker on the Nationals' offensive output

"It was great to see Anthony [Rendon], he's swinging well. See Ben [Revere] get a couple key knocks. We played some good defense and we got some pretty good pitching."

After dropping a 2-0 game to the Mets in the series opener in New York, the Nationals outscored the Mets 16-2 in taking two straight from their NL East rivals.

Baker said it was a good sign to see his team heating up some offensively.

"That's very valuable, especially when you're going to Miami," he explained, "because those guys, they depend heavily on their offense and so you've got to kind of outscore them to beat them. And you feel good about yourself when you get hits, and right now they should be feeling pretty good. I'm not crazy about scoring all our runs in one inning, but they say most teams win scoring more runs in one inning than the other team does the rest of the game, so today was the epitome of that. But the main thing is that we won and we're trying to get out of here relatively early, because we've got a late get-in in Miami."

Washington scored seven runs in the third on Thursday night, turning a 2-1 game into a 9-1 blowout.

Last night in the series opener in Miami, the Nationals scored all four runs they pushed across the plate in the top of the second inning, then hold on for a 4-1 win over the Fish.

"It was a good job pitching by them," Baker said, of the Marlins' ability to limit them to just the four runs.

"We wanted to jump on them early, because we were operating on a lower energy level. The longer the game went then the less energy we had. We were trying to come out warm, that's why we hit today. We didn't hit much, but got some blood flow going out there, and it worked because we scored early and then our pitching took over from there.

"I'd love to score some more.

"We did the same thing yesterday in New York, we got the big seven and then the big four today, but we've got to find a way to add on some runs and some insurance runs in the mid and late innings of the ballgame."

Nationals 4-1 over Marlins: Roark exorcises demons

 Photo © Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports

Three of the Nationals' four runs in the second scored on home runs, a solo blast by Ryan Zimmerman and a two-out, two-run home run by Michael Taylor.

"Those were much needed," Baker told reporters.

"Like I said, we got them early and so, we've got another tough cookie tomorrow. We've got to figure him out, because he's been tough on us. So we've just got to go home tonight and try to get some rest and come back tomorrow."

The "tough cookie" he was referring to, was, of course, Marlins' right-hander Jose Fernandez, who has held the Nats to two earned runs in 13 innings in two starts this season.

Here's the lineup that will take on Fernandez tonight in Marlins Park:

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