First came a flurry of strikeouts from the Washing

First came a flurry of strikeouts from the Washington Nationals’ bullpen. Next, the relief corps pulled off two narrow escapes.Three relievers combined to pitch four scoreless innings Friday night, and the Nationals broke a three-game losing streak by beating the Florida Marlins 3-2 in 10 innings. Washington Nationals Jerseys Tyler Clippard(notes) struck out all six batters he faced in the seventh and eighth. Drew Storen(notes) retired Mike Stanton(notes) on a 400-foot flyout to end the ninth, then teamed with Sean Burnett(notes) to wiggle out of a jam in the 10th.“With the bullpen guys, everyone is getting it done,” Clippard said. “It’s a lot of fun. We have a tremendous group down there.”Adam LaRoche(notes) hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th. Washington won despite striking out 15 times.“We kept scratching and clawing,” manager Jim Riggleman said.
Florida had runners at the corners with none out in the 10th, but Storen got two outs and Burnett retired Chris Coghlan(notes) on a flyout for his fourth save.“You just have to clear your mind and minimize the game and take a deep breath before every pitch,” said Storen, who lowered his ERA to 0.51.Clippard threw 22 pitches, 19 for strikes, and trimmed his ERA to 1.29. He said he had never struck out six in a two-inning stint in the majors.“Maybe in A-ball or something, but not in the big leagues,” he said. “That was fun. I pretty much hit every spot I wanted to.”Washington beat the Marlins for only the third time in their past 15 meetings.“The last couple of years they’ve gotten the better of us, so tonight was a huge win,” Clippard said.The Marlins have lost consecutive games for the first time since April 10-12. They fell to 8-4 in one-run games.“We are all at a point where we expect ourselves to win those games,” catcher John Buck(notes) said. “When you don’t, it’s obviously disappointing.”
Washington center fielder Jerry Hairston Jr.(notes) caught Stanton’s ninth-inning fly at the wall near the 404-foot sign to send the game into extra innings.The Nationals began the night next to last in the majors with a batting average of .226. MLB Jerseys From China They won with only seven hits, stranded eight and went 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position.Washington’s Jordan Zimmermann(notes) gave up two runs in six innings. Florida starter Ricky Nolasco struck out 11 and allowed two runs in seven innings.Nolasco fanned four of the first five batters before Ivan Rodriguez(notes) singled and came home on a double by Hairston. The Nationals made it 2-0 in the fourth when LaRoche led off with an infield single and later scored on Ian Desmond’s(notes) sacrifice fly.Florida scored in the fifth on a single by Greg Dobbs(notes), a double by Buck and a sacrifice fly by Omar Infante(notes). With one out and the Nationals anticipating a bunt by Nolasco,Cheap Gucci Hat, a missed sign left Buck stranded off third in a rundown, and he was tagged out.