Three highlights of the Nats' win vs. Fish

What a difference a day makes. After dropping two straight in Milwaukee, the Nationals opened their series against the Marlins with a commanding 5-1 win on Tuesday at loanDepot Park.

Here are three things of note from Washington’s victory against its National League East opponent:

Fedde gets the Nats ready
Starter Erick Fedde stifled Miami with a career-high 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 shutout innings. He allowed six hits and did not issue a walk until the seventh frame. Fedde improved to 3-0 in five career starts against the Marlins.

“That's probably the best I've seen Fedde,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “It looked like he got the ball to the opposite side of the plate, away from the right-handers pretty well. Seemed like he got the ball out there well, got the breaking ball over.”

Fedde recounted a game-changing conversation he had with reliever Sam Clay, whom he approached about his curveball. Even though Clay is a southpaw, Fedde thought they pitched similarly and he adjusted his grip accordingly, which he attributes to an increase in swings and misses.

“Today, the breaking ball was a lot sharper than it ever has been,” manager Dave Martinez said. “It was shorter, it was a late break, tough to recognize -- you could tell by the swings of the hitters. If he can do that consistently and keep it that way, he’s going to be good.”

Zimmerman catches the Fish
Ryan Zimmerman was a spark plug for the offense on a night when the Nats collected 11 hits. The veteran smacked a two-run, Statcast-projected 415-foot homer off former Nationals third-round Draft pick Jesús Luzardo, marking Zimmerman’s 40th against the Marlins. That dinger tied him with Chipper Jones for second most all time vs. Miami, positioning him to tie Ryan Howard (41) for the mark the next time he goes yard.

“He was struggling earlier and he got a breaking ball up in the zone, a changeup, and hit it hard,” Martinez said. “That ball was smoked.”

Zimmerman also moved into first place among all active players with the most homers, hits (230), doubles (45), RBIs (120) and runs (129) against the Fish. Although the opposing lineup has changed over the years, his success has been consistent.

“When you play a team and you hit well against a team, it seems like it doesn’t matter,” Martinez said. “You just continue to do that.”

Tres bien
While Zimmerman made his mark against a familiar foe, Tres Barrera is establishing a similar trend of his own in his young career. Facing 2016 Draft classmate Luzardo, Barrera also clobbered a 395-foot home run for his second at the Major League level. The first? That came this season on July 19 -- against the Marlins.

“I feel like I’ve been getting deep in the counts lately, in the past few games that I’ve been playing -- seeing a lot of pitches,” Barrera said. “Honestly, I was trying to hit a ground ball through the hole over there to get the RBI and he left a curveball up in the zone, and I just reacted.”

Barrera has been sharing starting catching duties with Riley Adams, a combination Martinez likes for being able to go with the most advantageous pitching pairings and opposing pitcher matchups. In this case, Barrera got the job done with a 3-for-4 evening at the plate.

“He can get a ball out over the plate a little bit and be able to be OK with it,” Martinez said. “He had great at-bats. … His swing was so short today, and that was good to see.”