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Marlins edge Nationals in 11 innings

May 14, 2011 - 5:52 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Omar Infante somehow got his hand around a tag at the plate to score on Greg Dobbs' double in the 11th inning, and the run lifted Florida over Washington, 6-5, in the first of a three-game series.

Edward Mujica (4-1) threw a scoreless 10th inning to get the win, Florida's third in five games, while Leo Nunez picked up his 13th save with a flawless 11th.

Brian Broderick (0-1) took the loss for allowing the winning run in the 11th inning. The Nationals have dropped two in a row after a brief two-game win streak.

Infante singled off of Broderick with one out in the 11th. He was followed by a double down the right-field line by Dobbs. Jayson Werth played the ball out of the corner and his relay throw beat Infante to the plate. Infante slid head-first and wide to the right. As Wilson Ramos slid his glove across the dirt to apply the tag, Infante lifted his left hand off the ground and around the arm of the catcher before touching the bottom point of home for the go- ahead run.

"In every game you're always going to go back and there are certain plays that stand out, key plays that may swing the game one way or another," said Dobbs. "But there's no doubt about it. His slide won the game for us."

Hanley Ramirez hit a two-out single in the first and was followed by a Gaby Sanchez home run to left-center. John Buck then hit a solo shot to give the Marlins an early three-run advantage.

Washington got a run back in the third with an RBI single by Ian Desmond that scored Jerry Hairston Jr. Hairston led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tom Gorzelanny and went to third on Roger Bernadina's single.

Florida answered in the fourth with a Mike Stanton homer to make the score 4-1.

Laynce Nix hit a solo blast into the upper-deck in right, and Bernadina hit a two-run double to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth.

The Marlins had men on first and second with two outs in the fifth when reliever Todd Coffey entered the game for Washington. Stanton smoked a ball to deep center and Bernadina made an amazing full-speed, diving catch for the third out and kept the game knotted up.

Bernadina was running towards the outfield wall and as the ball approached, he leapt and fully out-stretched his right arm to snag the ball out of the air. He managed to hang on as he tumbled to the ground and his arm bent behind his back.

Logan Morrison hit one into the right-field stands off of Tyler Clippard in the eighth to put the Marlins back on top 5-4.

Michael Dunn walked Werth and Adam LaRoche to start the bottom of the eighth, but Ramos followed with a 6-4-3 double-play. Werth did move to third on the play, and was knocked in by a Nix double to tie the game at five and credit Dunn with his second blown save.

"It's a marathon. You're going to lose games like this, but you're going to win games like this. You just have to keep your head up and keep going after the ball," said Coffey.

Burke Badenhop then started the ninth for Florida. He got the first two outs on three pitches before Bernadina worked a two-out walk and moved to third on a single by Desmond. Desmond took second on defensive indifference and Werth was intentionally walked after he worked a 2-0 count to load the bases. Left- hander Randy Choate then came into the game to face LaRoche, who hit a weak grounder to second that forced extras.

Game Notes

Morrison extended his hit streak to 11 games with his homer in the eighth...Chris Volstad allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out seven in six innings for Florida...Gorzelanny went 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out six for Washington...Both teams had 12 hits.