A day after hitting leadoff homers in both games

WASHINGTON — The disappointing Washington Nationals close out their home schedule with a three-game series against the Miami Marlins beginning Monday night.After dropping three of four to the fourth-place New York Mets over the weekend http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authen...ger-jersey , third-place Washington (77-77) needs to go 4-2 this weekend to cap a seventh straight winning season.Miami right-hander Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 2.35) and right-hander Stephen Strasburg (9-7, 3.83) square off in a rematch of a Sept. 18 pairing won by Strasburg and Washington, 4-2. Strasburg allowed two runs on five hits over six innings, while striking out 11 and walking two.Article continues below ...Over his last five starts, Strasburg is 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA and 38 strikeouts.“He’s been really good,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez told The Washington Post. “He’s pitching now. He’s mixing all of his pitches in and attacking the strike zone.”Strasburg is 17-7 with a 3.04 ERA in 30 career starts against Miami.Alcantara lasted just four innings against Washington, allowing three earned runs on six hits and six walks in absorbing his first loss of the season.“When we talk about young guys, this is what we see,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We see good and then we see some ones that are not as good. Today Edwin Diaz Jersey , the command didn’t seem to be there. A lot of misses, counts get bad and a lot of pitches in a short period of time.“It’s something he’ll be able to learn from and you’ve got to continue to work and be consistent with what you do and that’s what separates the guys who are going to be really good and the guys who are going to be OK.”Miami finished the home portion of its schedule with a 6-0 win over the Reds Sunday, taking three of four in the weekend series. At 62-93 with one game unlikely to be made up, the Marlins should avoid 100 losses but also won’t approach their 77 wins of a year ago.“No matter what, we knew what we were kind of embarking on this year, with a lot of the changes,” Mattingly told mlb.com. “The new direction of the club, under the new ownership. You understand all that. Still, the losses add up, and those are hard to deal with.“But I’ve been proud of the guys. I’ve felt they’ve continued to play hard and continued to give you the effort http://www.marinersfanproshop.com/authen...ome-jersey , and that’s not easy to do when you’re taking that many losses on the chin.”Washington is also playing out the string after being eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday. They lost 8-6 to the Mets in Sunday’s finale.Twenty-five-year-old rookie Erick Fedde, the team’s first-round pick in the 2014 draft, is among those bidding for a 2019 starting rotation spot. Against the Mets Sunday, he lasted only 3 1/3 innings, giving up three runs in a no-decision.In nine starts this season, Fedde has yet to go beyond six innings.“There are times when I’m like: ‘I can pitch at this level, I can be successful and I think I can dominate,'” he told MASN.com. “And then there are times that are like: ‘What are you doing out there?’ But I think that comes with the learning curve, and I just need to make sure that isn’t a very long learning curve.” ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta Braves rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. has struck again.The 20-year-old Acuna has become the youngest player in major league history to homer in five straight games, doing it Tuesday night when he hit his third leadoff shot in a row. Then he added another in the seventh inning James Paxton Jersey , a three-run shot for his 19th of the season.A day after hitting leadoff homers in both games of a doubleheader against Miami, Acuna connected. He opened the bottom of the first inning against the Marlins by homering on the first pitch for the second straight day. The Braves went on to win 10-6.Acuna is the first player to hit leadoff shots in three straight games since Baltimore’s Brady Anderson did it four in a row in 1996.Acuna has homered in seven of his last eight games, with eight long balls over that span. He tied the Atlanta record of five straight with a homer set by Brian McCann in 2006.The only other player younger than 21 to homer in four straight games was Miguel Cabrera for the Marlins in 2004.Acuna is hitting .352 with 11 homers since moving to the top of the batting over, a stretch of 24 games beginning right after the All-Star break. The outfielder went 5 for 8 with two homers, five RBIs, five runs, two walks, a double and a stolen base in Atlanta’s doubleheader sweep of the Marlins.After Acuna circled the bases, Charlie Culberson homered on the second pitch from Miami’s Trevor Richards.