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Nationals sneak past Marlins to split DH

Sep 23, 2013 - 5:16 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Wilson Ramos' ninth-inning grounder bounced off the leg of third baseman Chris Coghlan, allowing pinch-runner Eury Perez to score from third and give the Washington Nationals a 5-4 win over the Miami Marlins to split a doubleheader.

The Nationals are five games behind the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates for the NL's two wild-card spots with six games to play.

"We aren't finished. I take nothing for granted," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said.

Jayson Werth doubled to start the ninth against Sam Dyson (0-2). Perez came on for Werth and stole third before scoring the game's deciding run.

Denard Span tallied a pair of hits, three RBI and a run scored for Washington. Rafael Soriano (3-3) fired a scoreless top of the ninth to notch the win.

Giancarlo Stanton registered two hits, an RBI and a run scored for the Marlins, who have dropped seven of their last nine tilts.

"We came out and I thought we gave it everything we had. We go home with a split," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

The Marlins plated a run in each of the first two frames to jump out to a 2-0 lead before the Nationals responded by pushing across a pair in the third to tie it.

Donovan Solano doubled to start the game and later scored on a Christian Yelich groundout in the first, while Justin Ruggiano's leadoff homer in the second made it 2-0.

RBI singles by Span and Ryan Zimmerman knotted the tilt in the second.

Adeiny Hechavarria's two-out RBI single in the fourth gave the Fish the lead, but Span's two-run single in the sixth gave Washington a 4-3 edge.

Back-to-back one-out doubles by Yelich and Stanton in the eighth against Tyler Clippard tied the game at 4-4.

Game Notes

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg struck out six, but allowed three runs on six hits and two walks over six frames ... The Nationals were 4-for-15 with runners in scoring position.