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Young, Logan carry Nationals past Marlins

Jul 14, 2007 - 4:24 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- Despite a frantic comeback, the Florida Marlins' misery at home continued against the Washington Nationals.

All-Star Dmitri Young had four RBI, including a three-run double, and Nook Logan scored four runs as the Nationals outlasted the Marlins, 14-10, in the opener of a weekend series on Friday night.

The Marlins lost despite three-run homers by Alfredo Amezaga and Josh Willingham and a solo shot by Mike Jacobs.

"You score 10 runs, you usually win," Willingham said. "But it wasn't our night."

"We got close and they kept adding on, and we couldn't stop them from adding on," Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It makes it one of them crazy games."

With the loss, Florida fell to a major league-worst 17-26 at home. The Marlins have dropped 14 of their last 19 games at Dolphin Stadium.

The 14 runs were the most scored by Washington since 2005, when the franchise was known as the Montreal Expos.

Washington starter Jason Bergmann was pulled in the fifth inning after Willingham deposited a pitch over the scoreboard in left field to cut Florida's deficit to 11-8. Bergmann was pounded for eight runs and seven hits in 4 1/3 frames.

"I gave up a whole bunch of runs, and that's inexcusable," Bergmann said. "There's got to be a reason why I was so bad. It could have been the (All-Star) break. It could have been Friday the 13th. It could have been a lot of things."

"(Bergmann) has been a tough-luck guy for us," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "He's pitched real good, but he hasn't been able to get more than one win. I just went out there and told him, 'We gave you 11 runs. I'm going to give you a chance to get your act straight here, but I don't want to put our team in jeopardy.' But he couldn't do it."

Reliever Saul Rivera (3-2) gave up one run with two strikeouts in 1 2/3 frames for the Nationals, who held an 8-1 lead at one point.

Amezaga delivered an RBI single in the fifth as Florida closed to within 11-9, but the Nationals added two runs in the seventh on a single to shallow right by Austin Kearns, who ended the scoring slug fest with an RBI single in the ninth.

"It was one of those games where whoever got the bigger hit at the end was going to win," Jacobs said.

Starter Dontrelle Willis (7-8) lasted just 3 2/3 innings, giving up eight runs and eight hits in remaining winless since May 29. He also made a costly throwing error and was victimized by a pair of passed balls.

"My command's been terrible," Willis said. "A tough night. It (stinks). I pretty much just played terrible, I've got to cut down on the walks. They scored a majority of runs on the walks."

Washington entered the second half of the season ranked last in the majors with 326 runs, far behind the Chicago White Sox for 29th place. But the Nationals had little trouble putting them on the board against Willis.

Already ahead, 2-1, on a pair of RBI singles by Brian Schneider and Ronnie Belliard, the Nationals sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth, with Young's three-run double highlighting the six-run inning.

"It's fun when you score runs," Logan said. "The way we've been struggling the last couple of weeks, we just want to put that behind us and start the second half of the season fresh. The All-Star break was good for us. I know we're not going to come out and get 17 hits every night. (But) we got to win some ballgames. That's the main thing."

The Nationals had not offered a single run of support in five of Bergmann's past 11 starts and had been held to three runs or fewer in all but two of his outings.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the fourth, Amezaga smashed an 0-1 offering from Bergmann over the right field wall for only his second homer of the season, pulling Florida within 8-5. Amezaga drove in a career-tying four RBI.

The Marlins have not finished with a losing record at home since 1999.