Marlins 6, Nationals 2: Six in the Ninth After Alvarez's Zeroes

Alvarez threw six zeroes. Washington still lost in the ninth.

August 30, 2026 – Washington – Andrew Alvarez worked six innings, two hits, no runs, three walks, six strikeouts. Clayton Beeter threw two more scoreless frames. The Washington Nationals led 2-0 heading to the ninth at Nationals Park.

The Miami Marlins scored six in the last at-bat. Otto Lopez hit the homer that made it 6-2. Dax Fulton got the win. Max Kranick took the loss. Alvarez's line did not get a W. ESPN's recap put the rally in one sentence. The play-by-play needed a few more.

Two runs in eight innings, then the bullpen

Janson Junk lasted 4 2/3, four hits, one earned. Jacob Young scored on Nasim Nuñez's double to right in the fifth. 1-0. Dax Fulton inherited the eighth. Brady House scored on Daylen Lile's sacrifice fly. 2-0. Fulton (1-0) still got the win, his first in the majors per the Associated Press, because the ninth erased both runs and four more.

Beeter had held Miami hitless for two innings with three strikeouts. Alvarez had allowed two hits in six. Through eight, Miami had almost nothing. Agustín Ramírez had two of the club's four hits on the day and did not score. The ninth did not care about the first eight.

Walk, walk, HBP, error, steal, homer

Esteury Ruiz bunted for a single off Kranick. Griffin Conine walked. Javier Sanoja popped out on the infield fly rule. Leo Jiménez walked. Bases loaded. Jakob Marsee was hit by a pitch. Ruiz scored. 1-2.

Joe Mack hit a sacrifice fly to center. Conine scored. Andrew Pinckney's throw toward third went wild, into the dugout per ESPN, and Jiménez scored too. 3-2. Official scorer: one RBI, extra run on the error. Heriberto Hernández walked. Marsee stole home on a double steal, Hernández taking second. 4-2. Lopez then homered to left, his 10th, 400 feet into the Marlins bullpen per ESPN, scoring Hernández. 6-2.

Kranick (0-1) was charged with three runs in a third of an inning, two walks, one hit. Tom Cosgrove took the blown save, two-thirds of an inning, three earned, Lopez's homer. Calvin Faucher, Michael Petersen, and Victor Vodnik had already kept Washington's 2-0 lead intact from the Miami side. None of them pitched the ninth. They did not need to.

Miami finished with four hits and six runs. That is the shape of a last-at-bat win that lives on walks, a hit batsman, an error, a steal of home, and one ball that left the yard. Washington had six hits, two errors, and a starter who did everything except record the last nine outs.

AthX Engine scored Alvarez's six innings and Miami's last at-bat

AthX Engine put Alvarez at 21 pitching fantasy points, fifth among Sunday starters, in a loss. Miami scored 13 team FP. Washington finished at -3. Six scoreless innings still grade. A six-run ninth grades the other club. That split is the whole game.

Fantasy points measure the box. Price is a separate market. Alvarez's 21 does not become a win because the sheet liked the outing.

What's next

Washington handed a 2-0 ninth to a bullpen that walked the game away and then watched Lopez finish it. Miami stole a road win it had not earned through eight. Alvarez's zeroes were real. They were also not the last chapter.

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*Sources: MLB Gameday, ESPN recap, ESPN box score, MLB schedule, AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*