The Nationals can breath a sigh of relief. They will not see Florida Marlins starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez again in 2010.
The 26-year-old right-hander has tormented Washington all season. He took things to a distressing new level on Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park. Sanchez pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings before finally yielding a run, holding the Nats to just four hits without a walk in a 4-1 Florida victory.
Sanchez had not allowed an earned run to Washington in 23 1/3 consecutive innings dating to a May 9 start. Sanchez gave up a run in the third inning that day. He then recorded six more outs before departing and in three subsequent appearances against Washington this season didn’t allow a run until the Nats finally scored with two outs in the eighth inning on Saturday.
“A lot of good stuff happened today,” said Nats manager Jim Riggleman. “But the story of the day really was Sanchez.”
An RBI double by Wilson Ramos put Washington on the board. But Marlins reliever Jose Veras shut the door by getting pinch hitter Willie Harris to ground out to first base. The Nats left runners on first and second in the ninth against reliever Clay Hensley.
Sanchez (12-9, 3.35 ERA) is 2-0 against Washington with a 1.05 ERA in four starts this season. In his career against the Nats he is now 5-0 with a 2.28 ERA in 79 innings. That performance overshadowed Washington starter Jason Marquis, who had his best outing of the season. Marquis (2-8, 6.60 ERA) allowed just two runs on five hits in six innings and struck out eight.
“As a team I’m sure we feel we need to win these games,” said Nats second baseman Danny Espinosa. “Our pitchers are doing a good job of keeping us in the game and giving us the opportunity to win. We just haven’t done it these last couple of days.”
Washington dropped to 60-82 with the loss, clinching the franchise’s fifth straight losing season. The Nats are 5-12 against Florida this season and have lost nine of the last 10 in this series against their National League East rivals. Overall, they have dropped four in a row and seven of their last 10 games. Ryan Zimmerman was the only Washington batter to record multiple hits. He singled in the seventh and ninth innings. The Nats have scored just five runs during their current losing streak.
But Marquis’ effort was at least a small bright spot in an otherwise dreary start to September. After enduring an awful April and then spending over three months on the disabled list thanks to elbow surgery, Marquis has a 2.40 ERA in five starts since Aug. 20. He has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his last seven starts. Marquis said he had good bite on his slider Saturday and that by consistently getting ahead of Florida batters he was able to get them to chase sinkers low in the strike zone.
“I obviously don’t judge my outing by strikeouts,” Marquis said. “I judge it by how deep I go into the game, trying to get wins, and the quality of my pitches. But today was probably the best I’ve felt since the surgery.”
