Miami guns down 2 at the plate in win

WASHINGTON — First came Washington’s Josh Bell, heading for home from second base on a teammate’s single — not at his fastest on account of a right hamstring issue that kept him out of the previous game.

Result: Out at the plate. Next, mere moments later, came Yadiel Hernandez, heading for home from second on a teammate’s single — despite being given a stop sign by Nationals third-base coach Gary DiSarcina.

Result: Out at the plate. Those back-to-back baserunning blunders in the fourth inning, with Miami outfielders Jesús Sánchez and Avisaíl García each making a throw to the plate to prevent a run, backed up Joey Wendle’s first homer for the Marlins and helped produce a 5-2 victory over the reeling Nationals on Tuesday night.

“Two plays at the plate that were pretty much bang-bang,” Bell said. “Six inches away from a different ballgame there. That’s just the way the game goes sometimes.”

Especially lately, it seems, for Washington, which has lost six consecutive games and managed to push across a grand total of 13 runs in that stretch.

Which, manager Dave Martinez acknowledged, contributes to maybe pushing to get some more scoring for a club that is now 6-13 and last in the NL East.

The lineup managed to take three singles and two walks in the fourth against Sandy Alacantara (2-0) and turn them into one solitary run in the fourth.

After walks to Juan Soto and Bell around a strikeout of Nelson Cruz, Hernandez delivered a run-scoring single. Keibert Ruiz then singled to center, but Sánchez threw out Bell at the plate after he was waved around third by DiSarcina.

“He’s struggling a little bit right now. We’ve got to be conscious of that,” Martinez said about his first baseman.

Then Maikel Franco singled, too, and Hernandez tried to come home from second, too — and he got thrown out, too, this time by García from right.

“I was going all the way. I just had that in my head, to try to score there with two outs,” Hernandez said.