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Bonifacio extends streak; Marlins extend Nats' misery

Jul 28, 2011 - 9:07 PM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Emilio Bonifacio extended his MLB-best hitting streak to 26 games and the Florida Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 5-2 victory in the series finale.

Bonifacio had two hits, an RBI and a run scored in the win to remain one game ahead of Boston's Dustin Pedroia for the longest active hitting streak in the majors. It is also a career-high.

Brian Sanches (4-1) earned the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief of starter Brad Hand, who was recalled from Double-A Jacksonville for the game and allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings, Hand struggled with his command, walking six batters in the Marlins' fifth straight win.

John Lannan (7-7) went 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and four walks in the loss.

Jayson Werth went 2-for-4 and knocked in both of Washington's runs as the Nationals dropped their fifth straight game.

Bonifacio walked to lead off the third, stole second, moved to third on an Omar Infante single and scored when Logan Morrison reached on second baseman Danny Espinosa's throwing error. Espinosa fielded the weak grounder and tried to make a throw to second while spinning, but the ball slipped out of his hand and rolled toward the mound.

The Nationals knotted the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning after loading the bases with one out on walks to Espinosa and Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman's single.

Mike Stanton, Hanley Ramirez and Wes Helms all converged on Werth's fly ball to shallow right field, but none of them could get to it and it dropped right on the chalk, allowing Espinosa to score. Hand was able to limit the damage, though, as he induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Jonny Gomes.

Mike Cameron worked a walk to lead off the fourth for Florida and moved to third two batters later on Brett Hayes' liner into center. Hand then laid down a bunt that bounced off the plate and right to Lannan, who checked Cameron at third before getting the force at first. But as soon as Lannan turned to throw to first, Cameron broke for home and was able to beat Morse's throw to the plate, giving the Marlins a 2-1 advantage.

Stanton added to the lead in the sixth when he hammered a leadoff home run over the left-center field fence. After two quick outs and a double, Lannan was replaced by Sean Burnett on the mound.

Pinch-hitter Bryan Peterson greeted Burnett with a single that put runners on the corners, and Bonifacio followed with an RBI single into center field.

Burke Badenhop threw a scoreless inning for the Marlins before returning for the seventh. He retired the first two batters of the frame, but after he allowed a Zimmerman base hit and a Morse walk, Edward Mujica took over. The first batter Mujica faced, Werth, singled up the middle to score Zimmerman. Mujica then fanned Gomes on a high fastball to end the inning and keep it a 4-2 game.

Florida quickly got that run back in the eighth when Cameron walked, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Hayes groundout.

Game Notes

Florida optioned pitcher Jose Ceda to Triple-A New Orleans...The Marlins' three-game sweep over the Nationals was their first since September 10-12 of last season...Florida now leads the season series against the Nationals by a count of 8-4...Morse went 0-for-3 to end his 10-game hit streak.