Marlins visit Nationals, seek first series sweep of season

The Miami Marlins will go for their first series sweep of the season when they visit the Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.

For the second consecutive game in the set, the Marlins fended off a late rally Saturday, holding on for 4-3 win after the Nationals scored twice in the ninth inning and left the bases loaded.

Miami will look for its first three-game winning streak since April 20-22. The Marlins haven't swept a series this season but did take three of four games in their season-opening set against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Marlins right-hander Eury Perez (0-1, 12.00 ERA) will oppose left-hander MacKenzie Gore (3-5, 2.88) in the finale.

Perez will make his second start since his return from Tommy John surgery that cost him part of the 2023 season and all of 2024. In a 10-3 loss to the Pirates on Monday, Perez allowed four runs on four hits over three innings, striking out five and walking two. He needed 39 pitches to complete a four-run third inning.

"Got some deep counts and some foul balls," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "I thought he threw some good sliders, the fastball obviously had good velocity, and I think the command will continue to come as he just gets back out there and gets back into the rhythm and the flow of things."

Perez is 1-0 with a 2.30 ERA in three career starts against Washington.

Gore is 1-1 with a 1.19 ERA over his past four starts, striking out 33 in 22 2/3 innings. He leads the National League with 114 strikeouts. He left his last start, Tuesday against the New York Mets, with a 4-2 lead after six innings, but the bullpen could not hold it and the Nationals lost 5-4 in 10 innings. Gore gave up five hits and struck out six without a walk.

"I thought it was one of those days where we made pitches when we needed to," Gore said. "I don't think I was great. But like I said, I thought we made pitches when we needed to, and we did a nice job."

Gore is 2-2 with a 2.97 ERA in five career starts versus Miami.

On Saturday, Jesus Sanchez had two hits, including a home run, and Calvin Faucher retired James Wood with two outs in the ninth inning to preserve the win.

Liam Hicks and Dane Myers had two hits each for Miami, which has won three of its last four games.

"That is a great win," McCullough said. "All things considered -- the quick turnaround, how things transpired last night -- for our group to come back today, put together a really good team effort and to hold on there at the end, get the first two games of this series, [I'm] really proud of our group."

Miami won 11-9 on Friday in a game that ended after midnight thanks to a rain delay of more than two hours.

CJ Abrams and Alex Call had two hits each for Washington, which has lost seven straight games.

"Once again, we made a rally there late," manager Dave Martinez said. "But we've got to start rallying from the first inning on. I sound like a broken record, but we've got to remember we play nine innings. The first inning means a lot, too, not just the last two."

The Nationals have 30 runs in 12 games this month.

-Field Level Media