Washington took advantage of poor fielding and bad pitching from the Marlins early on to help produce 5 runs in the first 2 innings of the game. For the Nats it was smooth sailing from there on out.
The first run of the game for the Nationals came in the first inning and was set up with a little help from the Marlins. It started when Rick Ankiel reached first on a fielding error by Hanley Ramirez and then advanced to second when Layne Nixon was walked by Josh Johnson. From there things continued to get worse for the Marlins when Ankiel moved to 3rd and Nixon to 2nd on a throwing error by Josh Johnson on a pickoff attempt. Finally Ankiel came home on a ground out by Ryan Zimmerman giving the Nationals a 1 to 0 lead at the end of 1.
Washington came out the gates swinging in the second with a double from Jerry Hairston Jr., a single from Michael Aubrey and then a base clearing 3 run blast from Roger Bernadina. Things kept rolling for the Nationals when Laynce Nixon singled and then moved to second on a wild pitch from Josh Johnson to Ryan Zimmerman. At this point Johnson got the hook from the Marlins who brought in Brian Sanchez to replace him. Sanchez proceeds to give up a single to Zimmerman that sent Nixon home giving the Nationals a 5 to 0 lead.
The Nationals would go on to score 3 more runs including a solo shot home run by Rick Ankiel in the 7th inning. The Marlins went on to score a total of 4 runs but at no point in the game trailed by less than 2 runs after the second inning.
Star of the game was Roger Bernadina with 2 hits, 1 run, 3 rbis and a 3 run home run