On Sunday afternoon, the Miami Marlins delivered four of their eight hits in the game in the 10th inning, defeating the host Washington Nationals 7-4 throughout a wild late-inning stretch.
Erick Fedde made a strong start, limiting the damage and giving his team an advantage. He was excellent in the first two innings, striking out six batters in order, but in the third inning, Washington’s 29-year-old threw 17 pitches to the first three batters, surrendering a double and back-to-back walks, loading the bases, and one solo homer on pressure at second on a Jon Berti groundout, 1-0, before catcher Keibert Ruiz threw Berti out at second base on a stolen base effort, and Joey Wendle.
After four and a half innings, the pitcher decided to give up a two-out home run in the fifth inning, leaving a 2-2 bend up for Marlin’s third baseman Luke Williams, who hit it 406 feet to left field into the visitor’s bullpen for a solo homer and a 2-0 lead.
The game remained tied after the Marlins’ Pablo López pitched a no-hitter into the seventh inning. A rally in the bottom of the seventh tied the game and ended López’s no-hitter bid, and a go-ahead homer by Nationals first baseman Josh Bell in the bottom of the eighth put the Nationals on the verge of defeating the Marlins.
Juan Soto leaving the game
Despite leaving the game in the bottom of the fourth, Nationals’ outfielder Juan Soto was badly hurt whilst also making a fielding play in the top of the third. Soto slouched over and flexed his lower left leg after returning to the wall to fetch Bryan De La Cruz’s leadoff double and then making a long throw into second base. He stayed in the game and drew a walk to start the bottom of the fourth inning, then progressed to second and third bases on successive at-bats.
Garrett Cooper of the Marlins walked on the bag and was forced to fire to the plate, where catcher Jacob Stallings received Soto into a rundown following a superb volley to first by Luis García. He’d eventually be called out for running outside the baseline to avoid being tagged.
Soto walked back to the dugout with a limp at this point. As the top of the fifth inning began, Washington outlander Lane Thomas took over in the right field, leaving the audience wondering what had happened to Soto.
Davey Martinez, the Nats’ manager, later discovered Soto had a tense left calf muscle. When reporters arrived, the young star had already left the clubhouse, on his way to an MRI that would evaluate his status further than today.
His departure concerned his teammates. It will be troubling if his injury requires time to heal. Everyone is praying for him.
“Oh yeah, it’s terrifying, obviously,” Bell said. “So, you know, fingers crossed that it’s not anything too time-consuming. We’ll see. I know he’s probably going to get the results back here soon. I know we’re all holding our breath for him. I guess time will tell.”
After what happened to Soto, the Nationals were still on the brink of losing, as López pitched innings after innings without allowing a hit. He did throw 37 pitches in total, and with a 1-0 lead in the third inning, he got an inning-ending 5-6-3 DP to cap off a fast, eight-pitch frame after clobbered Victor Robles with one out.
There weren’t many close calls. Despite drawing three walks and having two more batters easily score in the first four innings, the Nationals have yet to record the smooth base hit that would have allowed them to score a run.
