The Miami Marlins allowed four early runs and that was all the Washington Nationals needed in their 4-1 win on Friday.
The loss was the third in a row for Miami which dropped its record to 21-20. The Marlins have a winning record on the road this year, but are below .500 at Marlins Park. Counting this defeat, the Marlins are a paltry 8-10 when playing at home this year.
Justin Nicolino pitched well outside of the second inning when Washington scored its aforementioned runs. The lefty allowed four runs on six hits in 5.1 innings. Nicolino struck out two and walked none along the way.
Dustin McGowan and Jose Urena came out of the pen in relief for Miami, and did a solid job of keeping the team in the game.
Marcell Ozuna provided Miami with its only run when he launched his eighth home run of the season. Ozuna's blast came in the fourth inning and gave Ozuna 22 runs batted in on the season. Ozuna was batting fifth in the lineup behind Giancarlo Stanton who saw his slump continue.
Stanton went 0-4 and is now hitless in his last 14 at-bats. The slugger has also struck out 12 times during the stretch and is hitting only .175 overall in the month of May.
The Marlins will look to half their latest skid with Jose Fernandez on the mound on Saturday.
