Nationals’ offense MIA in MIA: Marlins win second straight over Nats, 5-1

Adon vs MIA:

Davey Martinez was blunt but sympathetic when he spoke to reporters after Joan Adon’s 3 ²⁄₃-inning, 84-pitch outing against the Mets last week in the nation’s capital, which saw the 23-year-old right-hander struggle with his command and give up three hits, three runs, and five walks before he was done.

“He couldn’t repeat his delivery,” Martinez said.

“He was flying open, a lot of arm-side misses, a lot of yanked curveballs, like I said, he just couldn’t really get into his body today and mechanically he just wasn’t there today.”

Martinez also said he wanted the starter to focus on what he needs to do to turn it around, after he’d shown signs of frustration on the mound.

“I could tell that he got a little frustrated,” the manager explained.

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

“Even after the first inning, we calmed him down a little bit in the dugout in-between innings, but at some point, when you’re young like that, he thinks he’s letting the team down, and I had to tell him that you’re not, you just got to go out there and focus on throwing strikes, focus on throwing strike one.”

Given five days to work on improving things, Adon returned to the mound tonight in Miami and got off to a good start, with three scoreless on 47 pitches, and he worked around a one-out hit and two-out hit-by-pitch in a 22-pitch fourth which pushed him up to 69 total.

It was still 0-0 in the fifth, when Miguel Rojas got hold of a 1-0 fastball from Adon and hit it out to left field in loanDepot for the first run of the game by either team, and a two-out hit by Jesus Aguilar ended his outing, with Steve Cishek taking over with a runner on in a 1-0 game, though Adon did make his case for staying in to Nats’ manager Davey Martinez on the mound...

Joan Adon’s Line: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks, 84 P, 54 S, 9/0 GO/FO.

Poteet Retires 10-Straight To Start:

Marlins’ righty Cody Poteet, 27, got the ball in the second of three with the Nationals in Miami, in his first start of the season after posting an 0.55 ERA and a .161/.254/.214 line against in 16 ¹⁄₃ IP out of the bullpen.

Poteet picked up where last night’s starter, Sandy Alcantara left off. Alcantara retired the final 20 batters he faced in the series opener with the Nationals, and Poteet set 10 down through 4 ¹⁄₃ before finally giving up a single on a chopper off the plate by Juan Soto, but Josh Bell hit into a 3-6-3 DP in the next at-bat, so the Marlins’ starter faced the minimum through four.

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

Yadiel Hernández was the second Nats’ batter to reach base, when he took a one-out walk in the top of the fifth, but Poteet got out No. 2 on a fly to right field by Keibert Ruiz before he hit the pitch count the Marlins were holding him to, and manager Don Mattingly pulled him from the mound...

Cody Poteet’s Line: 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 Ks, 54 P, 37 S, 6/3 GO/FO.

Bullpen Action:

Anthony Bender took over for the Marlins with a runner on and two out in the fifth, and the right-hander kept it scoreless through four and a half, recording out No. 3.

Steve Cishek took over for the Nationals with a runner on and two out in the bottom of the fifth, and recorded the final out, after the Marlins took a 1-0 lead.

Steven Okert replaced Bender after a two-out César Hernández single in the Nationals’ sixth and the southpaw walked Juan Soto to put two on for Josh Bell, who walked as well, loading the bases in front of Nelson Cruz, who K’d swinging as the Nationals left them loaded.

Cishek retired the first two batters he faced in the Marlins’ sixth, but Jesús Sánchez hit a no-doubter to right-center field, 425 feet from home, to make it a 2-0 game in the home team’s favor. No. 4 for Sánchez.

Anthony Bass came on next for the Marlins, with Yadiel Hernández on (after a leadoff single) and one out, and struck out Maikel Franco before he got a force at second on an Alcides Escobar grounder for out No. 3.

Miguel Rojas doubled, took third base on a sac bunt by Erik Gonzalez, which Nats’ reliever Erasmo Ramírez couldn’t field, and he and Gonzalez scored on an errant pick attempt, and an errant throw to third base on the same play in the next at-bat, lordy, 4-0.

Victor Robles singled and César Hernández doubled off Bass in the first two at-bats of the Nats’ eighth, setting up a Juan Soto vs Tanner Scott, lefty vs lefty matchup, which Scott won when Soto popped out unproductively to short left. Josh Bell hit a sac fly in the next at-bat, however, and the Nationals finally got on the board, down 4-1, but Nelson Cruz lined out to first to end the threat.

Paolo Espino gave up a one-out double by Brian Anderson and a two-out RBI single by Jacob Stalling as the Marlins added to their lead in the eighth, 5-1.

The Nationals threatened with a one-out walk by Keibert Ruiz and a single by Maikel Franco, but both runners were stranded.

Nationals now 12-26