The Miami Marlins picked up a half game on the Washington Nationals in a tightly packed National League East on Monday afternoon. Miami scored five runs behind another strong outing from Carlos Zambrano for a 5-3 win in their series opener against Washington.
Zambrano pitched six innings for his third win of the season. He allowed three earned runs, struck out five and walked two. His ERA dropped to 3.00 for the year.
Giancarlo Stanton smacked a two-run shot in the sixth that erased a Washington lead. Chris Coghlan hit a sac fly to give the Marlins a one-run lead. Hanley Ramirez added an insurance run in the seventh inning on a sac fly of his own.
Nationals pitched Jordan Zimmerman entered the game with a strong road performance so far this season. This was the first road game of the year in which the right-hander allowed more than a single earned run.
Anibal Sanchez is on the bump for the Marlins on Tuesday night in game two of the series.
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