Heriberto Hernandez hit two of Miami’s four home runs and the visiting Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 7-3 on Tuesday night.
Joe Mack, Hernandez and Otto Lopez hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning. Hernandez has three homers in the first two games of the series, both 7-3 wins for Miami.
A trio of pitchers held Washington hitless until the sixth inning. John King (2-1) pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings.
Richard Lovelady opened with two hitless innings for the Nationals, before Miles Mikolas (1-5) was charged with six runs on six hits in six-plus innings.
With Washington trailing 4-1, CJ Abrams and Daylen Lile singled off Ryan Gusto leading off the seventh. Dylan Crews hit a slow roller and third baseman Leo Jimenez threw wildly to first. Abrams scored, Lile went to third and Crews took second. After Jorbit Vivas grounded out, Michael Petersen relieved Gusto. Keibert Ruiz grounded to first to make it 4-3, but pinch hitter Jose Tena struck out.
Luis Garcia Jr. tripled with one out in the eighth, but Anthony Bender got Curtis Mead to pop out and struck out Abrams.
The first two Marlins reached in the ninth and Miami made it 5-3 when Mack executed a safety squeeze bunt. Hernandez added two more runs with a line-drive homer to left.
The Marlins were hitless through four innings but exploded in the fifth. Owen Caissie walked with one out and the 23-year-old Mack hit his first major league home run, a shot to center. Hernandez followed with his first homer of the night and Lopez completed the trio of long balls with a fly to left.
The Nationals got their first hit when Drew Millas singled to right leading off the sixth and Jacob Young followed with another single to right. Millas left the game after he tagged up to go to third and was hit in the mouth by his helmet as he slid in safely. Garcia hit a potential double-play grounder, but Lopez threw wide to first and Ruiz scored to make it 4-1.
