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Marlins, Johnson hope to continue mastery of Nats

Apr 7, 2011 - 2:41 PM (Sports Network) - The Washington Nationals have found success hard to come by in recent meetings with the Florida Marlins, and that's especially been the case in games in which Josh Johnson has pitched.

Johnson will attempt to lead the Marlins to an eighth straight victory over the Nationals and keep his unblemished record against that team intact when he toes the rubber for tonight's finale of a three-game series from Sun Life Stadium.

In 14 career matchups against Washington, all but one of which have been starts, Johnson sports a stellar 7-0 record along with a 3.27 earned run average. The 2010 All-Star was 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three encounters with the Nationals last season, with both of those victories taking place in Miami.

Johnson was plenty good as well in his 2011 debut, with the tall right-hander taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning of last Friday's bout with the Mets. He wound up being reached for a pair of runs and three hits over 6 2/3 frames, but still managed to get the win in his team's 6-2 triumph.

Washington has lost seven in a row and 12 of its last 13 bouts with the Marlins, and couldn't hold onto an early four-run advantage in last night's 7-4 defeat.

Florida tied the contest by scoring four times off Nats starter Livan Hernandez in the bottom of the fifth, with John Buck knotting the score with a three-run triple with two out. The Marlins then scored twice off reliever Chad Gaudin in the sixth, with Omar Infante breaking the 4-4 tie with an RBI single.

Buck finished 2-for-4 on the night, while Chris Coghlan collected four hits -- including three doubles -- and scored three times.

Brian Sanches picked up the victory with one scoreless inning in relief of Florida starter Chris Volstad, who allowed four runs (three earned) over the first five frames. Leo Nunez notched his first save of the year by tossing a shutout ninth.

Ian Desmond went 4-for-5 with two RBI for Washington, which has now dropped four of its first five games of the season. Hernandez left after five innings and was reached for four runs while issuing five walks.

"It's early, we [just] have to put everything together," said Hernandez afterward.

One positive for the Nationals was the performance by No. 2 starter John Lannan in his first start. The lefty gave Washington its only win of the season to date by pitching five effective innings against Atlanta last Saturday, with the Braves mustering just one run on five hits off him.

Lannan, who compiled an 8-8 record with a 4.65 ERA in 25 starts for the Nats last year, is 2-3 with a 5.34 ERA over six lifetime outings against Florida. However, he lost both his starts versus the Marlins in 2010 and was battered for six runs in five innings in a visit to Sun Life Stadium last May.