Washington Nationals 8-2 over Miami Marlins to set up rubber match tomorrow in D.C.

Erick Fedde went curveball heavy against Miami again tonight, after throwing his curve 37% of the time when he dominated the Marlins over 6 ¹⁄₃ IP in South Florida last month, striking out a career-high 10 batters and giving up just one run on six hits in that outing. Back in the nation’s capital tonight, Fedde was up to 39% curves, as he struck out eight of 19 batters in five innings of work in which he gave up just one run on three hits, with a solo home run off him in the fifth inning accounting for the only run he allowed in what ended up an 8-2 win for the Washington Nationals which evened things up in the three-game series, setting up a rubber match at 1:05 PM ET tomorrow afternoon...

Fedde vs the Marlins: Erick Fedde looked like he’d found something when he faced Miami’s Marlins on the road in loanDepot park back on August 24th, holding the Nationals’ NL East rivals to a run on six hits in 6 ¹⁄₃ IP in which he struck out 10 of the 25 batters he faced in a 105-pitch outing in a 5-1 win.

In three appearances that followed, before going up against the Fish again tonight, the 28-year-old right-hander gave up 22 hits (five of them HRs) and 17 runs (13 earned) over 14 ¹⁄₃ IP (8.16 ERA), with two walks, 16 Ks, and a .349/.377/.667 line against over that stretch.

Last time out before tonight, the 2014 1st Round pick gave up five hits (three of them HRs) and four earned runs in six innings.

“For the most part he threw the ball well,” manager Davey Martinez said after that outing.

“If you look at his line, five hits, six innings, no walks, you would think that he’d be out of the game maybe 1-0, but ... the homers today killed us.”

Fedde kept the ball in the yard through four scoreless frames, which he completed on just 64 pitches, but his 72nd pitch of the game, a 95 MPH, 3-2 fastball to Lewin Díaz in the first at-bat of the fifth, went out to right field, for a leadoff home run that cut a 2-0 Nats’ lead in half, 2-1. Díaz’s 4th of 2021.

Isan Díaz singled one out after the home run in the fifth, and Carter Kieboom booted one hit to his backhand by Marlins’ starter Jesús Luzardo with two down, to put runners on first and third for Jazz Chisholm, Jr., who hit a long fly to center to end a 31-pitch frame which ended Fedde’s outing...

Erick Fedde’s Line: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 Ks, 1 HR, 95 P, 61 S, 5/3 GO/FO.

Luzardo vs the Nationals: Jesús Luzardo, 23, and 2016 3rd Round pick by the Nationals, was dealt to the Oakland Athletics in a 2017 trade that brought Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to D.C., then subsequently traded to Miami before the 2021 trade deadline.

In eight starts for the Marlins since the trade, the left-hander has struggled to the tune of a 6.58 ERA, with 24 walks and 39 Ks in 39 ²⁄₃ IP, over which opposing hitters had a combined .257/.368/.526 line.

One of those outings was against the Nationals he was facing again tonight, and in that one he gave up 10 hits and five earned runs in 4 ²⁄₃ IP before he was done.

Going up against the team that drafted and traded him again tonight, Luzardo retired four-straight to start the outing, but fell behind Ryan Zimmerman 3-1 in the fifth at-bat and gave up a 442-foot, opposite field blast to right field on a 95 MPH sinker up in the zone and over the middle of the plate. Zimmerman’s 14th of 2021, and 1-0 Nats in the second.

Lane Thomas hit an opposite field double to left field with one out in the third, and scored one out later on an RBI single to right by Juan Soto, who hit a 98 MPH full-count heater out to the pull side, 2-0. Soto took third base on a high throw home on the play but then was stranded there.

Andrew Stevenson connected for a pinch hit single off Luzardo with one out in the Nats’ half of the fifth, and Lane Thomas followed with a second straight single, putting two on before Alcides Escobar lined an RBI double to left field to make it a 3-1 game a 1/2-inning after the Marlins got on the board.

Jesús Luzardo’s Line: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 86 P, 51 S, 5/3 GO/FO.

SotOBP: Juan Soto started the night having reached base safely in 16 of his last 17 games, as the Nationals mentioned in their pregame notes, with the 22-year-old 22 for 57 (.386 AVG) over that stretch, with two doubles, a triple, four home runs, 13 RBIs, 19 walks, six strikeouts, and 13 runs scored. With an RBI single in the third, Soto made it 17 of 18 on base, and he hit another single in the seventh, 2 for 3, BB at that point...

Bullpen Action: Left-hander Steven Okert took over for Miami with the bases loaded and one-out, after Jesús Luzardo’s final act of the night, an intentional walk to Juan Soto that loaded them up after three straight hits off the Marlins’ starter.

Josh Bell stepped up next, and took a walk that forced in a run, 4-1, but Ryan Zimmerman grounded in an inning-ending, and rally-killing 6-4-3 DP in the next AB.

Alberto Baldonado took over for the Nationals in the top of the sixth, and retired the side in order in a 12-pitch frame.

Okert returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth and gave up back-to-back singles by Keibert Ruiz and Luis García before manager Don Mattingly went to the Marlins’ ‘pen again.

Zach Thompson came on with two on and one out and retired Riley Adams and Lane Thomas to keep it a 4-1 game in the Nationals’ favor.

Andres Machado gave up a leadoff home run by Lewin Díaz on a 2-1 fastball in the first at-bat of the Marlins’ 7th. Díaz’s second of the night and 5th of the season went 412 feet and into the upper deck in right field in Nationals Park to make it a 4-2 game.

Sean Guenther took over for the Marlins in the bottom of the seventh and got an inning-ending 5-4-3 DP after putting two on with one out.

Austin Voth struck out two in a 17-pitch, 1-2-3 top of the eighth.

Guenther gave up three straight singles in the bottom of the eighth, before he was replaced on the mound by righty Taylor Williams, who issues a run-scoring to Jordy Mercer, 5-2, and a second consecutive bases-loaded walk by Lane Thomas made it a 6-2 game. A sac fly out to right field by Alcides Escobar made it 7-2 in the Nationals’ favor, before Juan Soto added an RBI single for an 8-2 lead.

Wander Suero came on to end it and retired the side in order to end it.

Final Score: 8-2 Nationals

Nationals now 60-85