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Cabrera, Willingham lead Marlins past Nationals

Apr 4, 2007 - 6:00 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Miguel Cabrera and the Florida Marlins wanted to continue their assault on the Washington Nationals.

Cabrera had two hits and scored three times to help the Marlins to a 9-3 victory over the Nationals.

"It feels good to get off to a good start," Cabrera said. "We did a good job of putting the ball in play tonight. They were just throwing fastballs and we were just getting our hits and getting our runs. It felt real good tonight."

Josh Willingham had three hits and drove in two runs and Miguel Olivo also had two RBI for Florida, which scored nine runs against Washington for the second straight contest.

"It felt great tonight," Willingham said. "We won opening day, but I didn't get a chance to play. It was good to get a chance to play, drive in some runs and be part of this win."

After Cabrera walked to load the bases in the first inning, a fielding error by Nationals first baseman Dmitri Young on a grounder by Mike Jacobs scored two runs.

"It wasn't the type of performance I wanted to have tonight," , Nationals starting pitcher Shawn Hill said." "I just have to put this one behind me and move forward."

Hill gave up five runs and five hits in in five innings.

Olivo followed with a two-run single off Hill to give Florida a 4-0 lead.

"We just started to make contact and just put the ball in play," Olivo said. "Tonight we just took advantage of all of the opportunities we had."

In the second inning, Cabrera's single to left plated pitcher Scott Olsen to put the Marlins up by five. It was the fifth run Cabrera had driven in two days vs. the Nationals. On Opening day, he had three hits and four RBI while scoring a run.

The Marlins have won their first two games in a season for just the second time in franchise history. Florida started 3-0 in 1997.

Olsen allowed two runs, two hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings while striking out two. His counterpart, Hill surrendered five runs - four earned - five hits and a walk in five innings.

"I just did my job," Olsen said. "The offense did theirs and the bullpen also did a great job. It can't get any better than a team win. The bottom line is I won and we did our job."

Washington has dropped six straight to Florida dating to last season.

Ryan Zimmerman scored a run and had an RBI for the Nationals, who had just five hits.

"We can't dwell on this," Zimmerman said. "Offensively we have to really step it up."