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MIAMI -- It wasn't exactly a called shot by the Miami Marlins, but it was close enough. Justin Bour hit a two-run, tiebreaking homer and Jose Fernandez improved his record at Marlins Park to 21-1 as the Miami Marlins defeated the first-place Washington Nationals 3-2 in Saturday night's game between National League East rivals.
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A few seconds before Bour unloaded his sixth-inning blast off the façade in right field, Fernandez said something to pitching coach Juan Nieves.
"Bour needs to hit it over there in the second deck," Fernandez said.
That's exactly what happened, and Fernandez went nuts in celebration from the Miami dugout, jumping up and down and pumping his right fist.
Miami, though, nearly gave up the 3-1 lead that Bour had provided. Marlins closer A.J. Ramos started the ninth with that two-run lead but allowed the first four Nationals batters to reach, including Wilson Ramos, who had an RBI single.
With the bases loaded and no outs, A.J. Ramos got pinch-hitter Jayson Werth on a double-play groundout to third baseman Martin Prado, who stepped on the base and fired home. Jose Lobaton then hit a grounder for the final out, giving Ramos 13 saves this season.
Prado said he was expecting Werth to pull one of Ramos' changeups, and that's how it played out.
"If something was hit close to the base," Prado said, "I was going to do whatever I could to double up."
Miami produced 10 hits -- most of them by Marcell Ozuna and Ichiro Suzuki -- as the Marlins (22-20) snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-6 against the Nationals this season.
Ozuna nearly hit for the cycle with a triple, double and single.
Suzuki, a late replacement for Christian Yelich, who suffered back spasms in batting practice, went 4-for-4 with a double and a walk.
"Ichiro likes early notice (that he will be in the lineup)," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Maybe I will give him late notice from now on (given the results)."
Fernandez (6-2) allowed four hits, one walk and one run, striking out nine in six innings. He has struck out nine or more in three straight starts.
"He chewed us up and spit us out," Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy said of Fernandez's pitching.
Fernandez outdueled Joe Ross (3-4), who had allowed just one run through five innings before getting ambushed by the first two batters in the sixth. Ozuna tripled to right center and trotted home on Bour's homer.
"It was a poorly located changeup," Ross said of the pitch to Bour. "It was low and in, especially for lefties, usually they're happy (with that location)."
Washington (26-17), which had its three-game win streak broken, had trouble all night containing Suzuki, who had three of Miami's first four hits.
Suzuki's second hit bounced off the glove of third baseman Anthony Rendon, and his third hit went off left fielder Chris Heisey, who charged in but couldn't make the play after over-running it slightly.
One major negative for Miami was the play of Giancarlo Stanton, who has averaged 32 homers per season the past five years but is mired in a 4-for-48 slump and is hitting .210 for the season.
In his past five games, Stanton is 0-for-17 with 15 strikeouts. That includes his three strikeouts in three at-bats on Saturday, when he swung at way-outside pitches for each of his outs.
Washington opened the scoring in the fourth. Heisey drew a one-out walk on eight pitches and advanced to third on a line single by Bryce Harper.
Fernandez was close to escaping the jam when he struck out Murphy on a low-and-away slider. But while Murphy, who leads the majors in batting average (.390) and is extremely tough to strike out, failed to get the run home, Clint Robinson picked up an RBI by singling through Fernandez's legs.
Miami tied the score in the fifth. Suzuki singled, advanced to third when Ross threw wildly on a pickoff attempt at first and scored on a single by Prado, who shot the ball through a drawn-in infield.
The score was tied 1-1 until Bour's semi-called shot.
"It was a big win for us," Mattingly said. "It's kind of like what we have been doing with Washington all year, back and forth."
NOTES: Miami RHP Jose Fernandez has a 1.64 ERA with 241 strikeouts in 31 career starts at Marlins Park. Batters are hitting .185 against him in Miami. ... Marlins LF Ichiro Suzuki has 2,954 major-league hits. With one more hit, he will tie Willie Keeler for 32nd place on the MLB list. ... Marlins LF Christian Yelich (back), who was scratched, has a history of back issues. ... Washington rested half of Friday's staring lineup, taking out C Wilson Ramos, 1B Ryan Zimmerman, CF Michael Taylor and LF Jayson Werth. In their place, Washington started C Jose Lobaton, 1B Clint Robinson, CF Ben Revere and LF Chris Heisey. ... Saturday was Ross' 23rd birthday.
