WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Florida Marlins just keep rolling
along.
Cody Ross, Wes Helms and Dan Uggla all homered Saturday as the
Marlins rolled to an 11-0 rout of the Washington Nationals.
Andrew Miller (3-2) yielded two hits and a walk while striking
out a career-high seven in seven innings for Florida, which has
won a season-high six straight games.
"I thought the name of the game today was Miller," Marlins
manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He was good. He was sharp and
gave us seven outstanding innings."
"I felt like I threw the (ball) really well tonight, a few too
many balls early in the count, but I felt aggressive," Miller
said. "Even when I was behind in the count, I was able to get a
good fastball or changeup. Overall, it was a positive start."
It's the most consecutive wins for the Marlins since they won
nine in a row from August 20-29, 2006. Florida, which has
outscored its opponents, 44-10, during the winning streak, has
22 victories through 36 games, the most in franchise history.
"I think we are pretty good, and all the guys in here think we
are pretty good," Miller said. "We are a balanced team, I don't
know why people would think less of us."
Ross began the onslaught when he hit the first pitch of the game
by Washington starter Michael O'Connor (1-1) into the seats in
left for an early advantage. The Marlins tacked on two more
runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
"I told Hanley (Ramirez) before the game that I'm going try to
do what you do (being aggressive by swinging at the first
pitch)," Ross said. "On the first pitch, I got a good pitch to
hit and luckily got some good wood on it. I came back in the
dugout and he looked at me and I told him, 'I told you so.'"
In a seven-run fourth inning, Helms led off the frame with a
shot to left before Uggla capped the scoring with a grand slam
off Nationals reliever Joel Hanrahan. Of the 10 batters who
came to the plate in the frame, seven of them scored on just
four hits.
Uggla, who finished with five RBI, thought he could have gotten
more with a little more luck.
"They kept getting on base for me," Uggla said. "I would have
loved to get more RBI. It's one of those things where you've
got to get greedy in times like that."
O'Connor was charged with nine runs, six hits and six walks with
a strikeout in just 3 1/3 innings.
"Not a very pretty outing," Nationals manager Manny Acta said.
"O'Connor just didn't have it. Just a very poor start."
Meanwhile, Miller was cruising along. The 22-year-old
lefthander, who gave up a single and a walk in the first inning,
retired 14 in a row before surrendering a one-out base hit to
Felipe Lopez in the sixth. It was the fewest hits the 6-6
southpaw has allowed in a start as he matched a career high in
innings.
"I feel like I'm pitching more toward my capability," Miller
said. "At the beginning of the year, I was giving up a ton of
hits, but whatever I'm doing now is working better, that's for
sure."
Jeremy Hermida added an RBI single in the eighth to finish the
scoring for Florida, which posted its fourth shutout of the
season.
Lopez went 2-for-4 for the Nationals, who have lost two straight
and four of five.
"This is just one loss," Acta said. "It's not like when we lost
eight games in a row."
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