NewsHermida's heroics lift Marlins over Nats
Outfielder's two homers extend Florida winning streak to six
By Joe Frisaro / MLB.com
04/18/09 6:00 PM ET
WASHINGTON -- It's not just a breakout beginning for the Marlins. Jeremy Hermida, a former first-round pick, is showing why so many have long believed he is a talented hitter.On Saturday afternoon, the 25-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder delivered in the clutch -- twice. After connecting on a two-run homer to tie the game in the ninth inning, the Marietta, Ga., native belted a three-run blast in the 11th inning to rally the Marlins to an improbable 9-6 win over the Nationals.
Extending their franchise-best start to 10-1, the Marlins have won six straight. The last teams to open by winning 10 of 11 were the 2003 Giants and Royals. San Francisco went on to win the National League West that year, but they lost in the NL Division Series to the Marlins.
"It's a lot of fun, to be honest with you," Hermida said. "We've been on a stretch here lately where it seems like every day, something different comes up. Somebody else is stepping up every day. What we've done the last two days is a whole lot of fun."
For the second straight game, the Marlins rallied in the ninth inning. This time, trailing by three, Alfredo Amezaga slapped a one-out single off closer Joel Hanrahan. A wild pitch moved him to second, and he scored on pinch-hitter Ross Gload's RBI single.
With two outs, Hermida connected on a two-run homer to pull Florida even. On Friday night, Hermida had the game-winning infield single in the 10th inning. But in the ninth inning, Cody Ross' homer off Hanrahan sent the game to extra innings.
"Team effort, everybody," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez used all 13 of his position players and 18 total players among his 25-man roster.
A first-round pick in 2002, Hermida has hit safely in nine straight games. He enjoyed his third career multihomer game and first since July 26, 2008, against the Cubs at Wrigley.
"He had two of them today," Gonzalez said. "He can do that. We've seen it done in '07, the second half of the season. Now, we're looking forward to him doing that over the entire year. He's very capable of doing that. He's very talented."
The three-hit, five-RBI game lifted Hermida's batting average to .316. He has six of his eight RBIs on the season in the past two days.
Hermida's ninth-inning heroics took Josh Johnson off the hook.
"I love Hermida, he's awesome," said Johnson, who was drafted in the same class as Hermida. "I love Hermida by what he did today. I loved him before. But I love him even more now. That's all."
Entering the game, Johnson allowed one run in 15 2/3 innings on the season. But the 25-year-old struggled in the first inning, as Washington posted five runs.
Although the 6-foot-7 right-hander was able to get ahead of hitters, he was unable to put them away. Anderson Hernandez, on a 1-2 pitch, singled to right. Nick Johnson singled, and Ryan Zimmerman, on a 1-2 pitch, slapped an RBI single. Adam Dunn walked, loading the bases, and with one out, Austin Kearns -- on a 1-2 pitch -- belted a grand slam to left field.
"I just couldn't get into a groove," Johnson said. "After the second inning, I threw strikes, and my changeup was pretty good."
It was Kearns' second career grand slam; the other came on May 21, 2002, also against the Marlins. That blast was off A.J. Burnett.
Before Kearns circled the bases, Johnson last surrendered a home run on Sept. 19, 2008, against the Phillies. On that day, Greg Dobbs and Ryan Howard each went deep off Johnson, who still picked up the win.
In the second inning, the Marlins chipped back to 5-2 on Ronny Paulino's two-run homer to center field off former Florida left-hander Scott Olsen. Going with the matchups, Paulino got the start at catcher, partly because of a .357 (4-for-15) career average against Olsen.
Once Johnson exited, the Marlins' bullpen again stepped up -- logging five shutout innings, running their scoreless-innings streak to 20 1/3 on the road trip.
Logan Kensing, Renyel Pinto, Dan Meyer and Kiko Calero limited the Nationals to one hit and three walks over five frames.
After the second inning, the Nationals had only one hit.
When the Nats make mistakes, the Marlins have been making them pay.
Florida converted a Nick Johnson error into a run in the fifth inning. Hermida singled with two outs, and Hanley Ramirez followed with a single. Jorge Cantu lifted a routine infield fly ball, but Johnson, battling the sun, dropped the ball, scoring Hermida.
"It's almost like you know something good is going to happen for us," Josh Johnson said of the roll the team is going through. "For the last two days, we've had to do it in the ninth inning. You just think something good is going to happen."
Joe Frisaro is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
