Miami, FL – Ryan Zimmerman hit a pair of home runs as the Washington Nationals took a 9-2 win over the Miami Marlins in the second of a three-game set.
Wilson Ramos drove in a pair of runs as did Tyler Moore, while Jayson Werth had three hits and scored once for the Nationals, who have won three of four. Tanner Roark (5-0) gave up just four hits and struck out four over six innings in his first career start to pick up the win.
"He pitched a really great ball game out there today," said Washington manager Davey Johnson said about Roark. "I wanted to send him out in the seventh, but he was 10 pitches away from the maximum we were going to allow him so I went to the bullpen. Still, it was a great job from him today."
Adeiny Hechavarria and Jeff Mathis each drove in a run for the Marlins, who had won four of five coming in. Nathan Eovaldi (3-6) lasted just three innings in the start, giving up five runs on nine hits.
"I just wasn't locating any of my pitches tonight," said Eovaldi. "Fastball command was off and none of my breaking pitches were falling for strikes."
Washington didn't need long to get on the board as Denard Span led off the game with a single and Zimmerman followed with his 18th home run of the year.
Zimmerman led off the third with his second home run of the game, and Ramos added a two-run single later in the inning for a 5-0 lead.
In the sixth, Span lofted a sacrifice fly to left to plate Tyler Moore, and Adam LaRoche doubled home Jayson Werth in the seventh for a 7-0 advantage.
RBI singles from Hechavarria and Mathis in the seventh got Miami on the board, while Moore drove in two with a single in the ninth to cap the scoring in the game.
Game Notes
Washington has taken 10 of the 14 games with Miami this season ... Washington went 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base ... Eovaldi has made three career starts against Washington, all this year, and it 1-2 against the team.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.