The Official Site of Hanley Ramirez

Tue, Aug 31st 2010, 10:15

Hanley returns with a homer, but Marlins fall

Rain created less than ideal conditions on Monday night. But overall sloppy play contributed to the Marlins losing, 9-3, to the Nationals at soggy Sun Life Stadium.

On a night where heavy rain caused a 2-hour, 49-minute delay before the game started, the Marlins committed two errors, tossed four wild pitches and had four unearned runs scored.

The Nationals capitalized on the generosity, and used a pair of three-run homers by Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman to power their way to victory in front of an announced paid-attendance crowd of 18,326.

Hanley Ramirez homered and Brett Hayes added a two-run blast for Florida, which has now dropped three straight to fall to 65-65 on the year. Monday’s loss followed up a disheartening, 7-6 setback in Atlanta on Sunday, where the Braves rallied from five runs down.

“It was a long night,” Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “It has been a very rough last two days. We have to regroup and come back and try to win tomorrow.”

Jason Marquis (1-7) won his first game of the season, allowing three runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings. Marlins rookie Alex Sanabia (3-2) allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings, suffering the loss.

“They did everything better than us today,” Rodriguez said. “They pitched better. They hit better. They played defense better.”

Washington broke the game open in the seventh, scoring four unearned runs off Brian Sanches.

Dunn’s three-run homer punctuated the inning. A throwing error by third baseman Chad Tracy allowed Justin Maxwell to reach to open the inning. Then Maxwell circled the bases on two Sanches wild pitches with Adam Kennedy at the plate.

“It was an overall bad game,” Rodriguez said. “We lacked that clutch hitting. We played bad defense. So it was pretty much an overall bad game.”

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