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Pena blasts two homers as Nationals edge Marlins

Sep 11, 2007 - 4:22 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Wily Mo Pena belted two home runs and Shawn Hill tossed six effective innings as the Washington Nationals held on for a 5-4 victory over the Florida Marlins in a rain-soaked contest on Monday night.

Ryan Zimmerman also drove in a run for the Nationals, who have won seven of their last nine games. It was their second straight win after salvaging the final contest of a three-game set against the Atlanta Braves this weekend.

With Washington leading 1-0, Dmitri Young was issued a one-out walk from Marlins starter Scott Olsen (9-13). Austin Kearns struck out, and Pena then blasted a prodigious homer to left field to give the Nationals a three-run advantage.

Nationals manager Manny Acta admitted that it was the most impressive of the slugger's two blasts.

"The line drive. Unbelievable," Acta said. "As soon as he hit it, I thought he had a chance because I thought of Alex Gonzalez's home run during the (2003) World Series, except Alex's was a little bit higher than that one. It was just a bullet. Only he can hit a ball like that."

"I was surprised that ball was going," Pena said. "I was running. It was a line drive, so I thought it was a double. It was a changeup down. I just hit it with one hand. I put a good swing (but) I'm still surprised that ball was gone."

Dan Uggla got Florida on the board, drilling his 29th homer of the season to left to make it 3-1. The blast set a franchise record for homers in a season with 183, surpassing last season's mark.

Pena's second blast made it 4-1 in the fifth.

Hill (4-3) yielded two runs - one earned - and six hits while striking out four without a walk.

"Solid outing. I'd like to go deeper into a game, but the rain obviously prevented that," Hill said. "The first couple of innings I felt real strong. I felt like it was coming around easy, I wasn't stressing or anything. I started to get a little tired in the fourth inning. Obviously, it was very hot out there."

Acta agreed.

"(Hill) did a tremendous job for us," Acta said. "It's too bad the rain delay (happened). I couldn't keep him out there because his pitch count was down.

"I was going to give us a chance to stretch him a little bit. He kept those guys off-balance with his slider today and his sinker was down in the zone too."

Jesus Colome and Jonathan Albaladejo combined to pitch the seventh, Jon Rauch hurled the eighth and Francisco Cordero tossed the ninth for his 33rd save.

In the bottom of the fifth, Cody Ross' throwing error on Todd Linden's infield single cut Florida's deficit to two runs. However, Kearns ripped a run-scoring single in the sixth to make it 5-2. Felipe Lopez was thrown out trying to score a second run on the play.

Washington's rally in the seventh was interrupted by rain, but not before the increasing downpour produced a peculiar play.

With runners on first and second and no one out, Jesus Flores hit a towering popup to the left side of the infield. But none of the Marlins' infielders nor Pena at second base saw the ball in the heavy rain.

The ball fell just fair, a few feet to the right of third baseman Miguel Cabrera, who forced Pena at third. But the infield-fly rule - which was curiously called in the downpour - meant that Pena advanced at his own risk and Flores was out for an odd double play.

"Tim (McClelland) was the one that called it from behind the plate," Acta said. "It was a weird play. We're looking up guys and nobody sort of saw the ball. (Cabrera) looked up and started pointing, and he really wasn't seeing the ball. Usually, that call is made to protect the baserunners."

A 40-minute rain delay followed with Hill at the plate with two outs and runner on second. After the delay, pinch hitter Ryan Church was intentionally walked, and Nook Logan lined out to end the frame.

Olsen allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings while walking five and striking out seven for the Marlins, who have lost six of their last seven.

"The two home runs, that's what beat me today," Olsen said. "It's always something. Other than the home runs, I didn't think they were bad pitches. The second one, the 3-2 fastball it was down. (Pena) did a good job of staying on it and staying with it on both of them."