Washington Nationals at Miami Marlins: Final Score & Recap

The Washington Nationals defeated the Miami Marlins 3-2 at loanDepot park on May 8, 2026, in a game decided entirely in the first inning. Washington plated all three of its runs in the top of the first and then held on through eight scoreless frames, while Miami managed two runs of its own in that opening half-inning but never found a third. The Nationals finished with six hits and committed two errors, while the Marlins collected five hits without an error but could not manufacture the tying run late.

The game's most decisive single moment came in the bottom of the eighth, when Kyle Stowers struck out against Brad Lord, a play that shifted win probability by 24.2 percentage points against Miami. That swing effectively extinguished Miami's most dangerous late threat. The Marlins did create brief tension in the ninth, as Heriberto Hernández drew a walk off PJ Poulin that moved the needle 8.1 percentage points in Miami's favor, and a Leo Jiménez forceout shifted things 18.8 points back toward Washington, reflecting how tightly the final at-bats were contested. Liam Hicks then ended the game with a flyout against Brad Lord, dropping Miami's chances a further 8.5 points. An earlier opportunity for Washington evaporated in the top of the fifth when CJ Abrams grounded into a double play off Robby Snelling, costing the Nationals 11.1 percentage points of win probability.

On the mound, Foster Griffin was Washington's standout contributor by the DiamondIQ model's accounting, generating 41.1 percentage points of win probability added, followed by Brad Lord at 33.6 and Tyler Phillips at 16.5. Among position players, Jiménez led Miami's batters at plus-16.6 percentage points of WPA despite his minus-0.4 RE24, while Hernández added 8.1 percentage points and Otto Lopez contributed a modest plus-4.1 WPA with a plus-0.5 RE24. The DiamondIQ model's pre-game estimate gave Miami a 49 percent chance of winning at home; the final estimate closed at zero.