Otto Lopez’s two-run homer caps Miami’s six-run ninth as Marlins beat Nationals 6-2

The Miami Marlins put together a late surge and sent the Washington Nationals back into the dugout with a familiar frustration, a blown save situation that grew into a six-run ninth inning and a 6-2 victory on Sunday.

Otto Lopez provided the punctuation for the rally. His two-run homer capped Miami’s biggest stretch of the game, turning the ninth from a tight late inning into a decisive inning that Washington could not recover from. Once Miami took control with that swing, the rest of the inning functioned as a finishing sequence rather than a comeback attempt.

For the Nationals, the loss carried a specific kind of sting tied to their season totals. The game marked the Nationals’ 35th blown save of the year, and the count was two shy of matching the MLB record for blown saves in a single season. That framing underscores that this was not an isolated moment, but part of a broader pattern of late-game opportunities slipping away.

Save numbers can distort how a game “felt,” because they only attach to specific bullpen situations. Still, when a team’s save total and blown-save total move in the same direction, it speaks to recurring issues with late inning execution, bullpen management, or both. In this case, the Nationals were unable to preserve the kind of late-game outcome that would have limited Miami’s damage.

Miami, meanwhile, benefited from the kind of offensive inning that teams chase because it can flip a contest quickly. A six-run ninth inning is the type of output that forces opposing managers to use multiple relief arms and still leaves too many baserunners ahead of the next batter. Lopez’s homer did that by stretching the gap in a single at-bat, and the rest of the inning followed the same theme, sustained pressure rather than one-off production.

The final margin, 6-2, reflects how completely the Marlins owned the end of the game. When a team wins by four after a nine-inning swing in the final frame, it usually means the rally was not only about one big play, but also about the ability to keep the lineup moving long enough to turn a deficit into a cushion.

What to watch next is whether Miami can build on the momentum of an inning like this in its upcoming stretch, and whether Washington can prevent a repeat of the late-inning problem that led to yet another blown save. With the Nationals positioned just two blown saves shy of an MLB record, the urgency around late-inning stability is likely to stay high.