Uggla hits 2 homers to lead Marlins to 7th straight victory

Dan Uggla´s second home run on Sunday was a go-ahead drive in the eighth inning that lifted the Florida Marlins to their seventh straight win, 5-4 over the Washington Nationals.

Uggla drove in two runs and has seven RBIs and three homers in two games; he hit a grand slam Saturday and has 11 homers this season.

The Marlins have won all six of their games at Nationals Park, which opened this season, and their seven-game win streak overall is their best run since winning nine straight in August 2006.

Washington´s Aaron Boone had a homer, triple and single with two RBIs in the loss.

Logan Kensing (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the win, and Kevin Gregg pitched the ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.

Luis Ayala (1-3) gave up three runs on two homers in the eighth inning, spoiling Shawn Hill´s solid outing.

Hill allowed two runs on five hits and struck out three in seven innings, but got a no-decision for the fifth time in five starts this season.

Alfredo Amezaga led off the eighth against Ayala with an infield single. The next batter, Jeremy Hermida hit a tying two-run home run to right-center.

Then with two outs, Uggla put the Marlins ahead with a shot over the out-of-town scoreboard in right field. Uggla homered to left-center in the fifth inning.

Uggla scored the Marlins´ first run in the second inning. After being hit by a pitch, he advanced to third on a bloop single by Luis Gonzalez, and then came home on Wes Helm´s sacrifice fly to center.

Boone tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff home run.

The Nationals took their first lead of the three-game series in the third inning. Ronnie Belliard hit a two-run home run, his second of the season, to give Washington a 3-1 lead. Ryan Zimmerman followed with an infield single and then scored when Boone tripled.