WASHINGTON (AP) — Daylen Lile homered twice and drove in four runs, Erik Tolman pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to earn his first major league save, and the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 6-3 on Monday night.
The Marlins dropped three of four to the Nationals and fell four games behind Arizona in the race for the final NL wild-card spot.
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Miami Marlins third baseman Leo Jiménez catches a foul ball hit by Washington Nationals' Abimelec Ortiz during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Washington Nationals first baseman Andrés Chaparro fields a ground ball to put out Miami Marlins' Kyle Stowers during the second inning of a baseball game, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Miami Marlins staring pitcher Ryan Gusto throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Washington Nationals' Daylen Lile watches his two run home run go over the right field fence during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Lile, named the NL player of the week earlier Monday, finished 3 for 3. The second-year outfielder has five homers over his past eight games to reach 20 for the season.
Brady House was 2 for 4 with an RBI for the Nationals. Andrew Pinckney and Keibert Ruiz also had two hits apiece.
Tolman replaced Matt Waldron with the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth. He struck out Kyle Stowers, then induced a double-play grounder from Leo Jiménez. Tolman then struck out the side in the ninth.
Waldron (2-2) allowed five hits across three scoreless innings.
Josh Ekness (1-2) replaced Tyler Zuber with one out and a runner on third in the seventh. Two pitches later, Lile hit his second homer to give the Nationals their first lead at 4-3. Washington added two more runs in the inning, with House contributing a run-scoring single.
In the fifth, Lile hit a 2-2 slider off Marlins starter Ryan Gusto 406 feet to left-center to get Washington within 3-2. It was the 23-year-old's first opposite-field homer in the majors.
Gusto allowed one run and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Heriberto Hernández scored on a wild pitch by Luis Perales and Stowers followed with a two-run single that made it 3-0.
Marlins RHP Tyler Phillips (3-6, 3.59 ERA) starts Tuesday to begin a series at Kansas City.
Nationals RHP Jake Irvin (2-8, 5.62 ERA) starts Tuesday in the first of two home games against Atlanta.
See AP’s full MLB coverage here
Miami Marlins third baseman Leo Jiménez catches a foul ball hit by Washington Nationals' Abimelec Ortiz during the first inning of a baseball game, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Washington Nationals first baseman Andrés Chaparro fields a ground ball to put out Miami Marlins' Kyle Stowers during the second inning of a baseball game, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Miami Marlins staring pitcher Ryan Gusto throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
Washington Nationals' Daylen Lile watches his two run home run go over the right field fence during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is stepping down after 18 months on the job, the White House said Monday, in the latest departure of a top military leader during the Trump administration.
No reason was given for the departure of Driscoll, who is a friend of Vice President JD Vance, but tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have been widely reported. It marks the latest in a series of shakeups of the military leadership, with the Army especially seeing major upheaval.
“Secretary Driscoll has been highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda to Make America Strong Again at the Department of the Army by providing outstanding leadership during historic military operations, restoring an emphasis on readiness and lethality, assisting with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and more," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.
"The United States Army is more powerful than ever thanks to his work alongside the Commander-in-Chief and Secretary of War,” she added.
A U.S. Army official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Driscoll spoke with President Donald Trump on the current state of the Army and submitted his resignation. The official did not provide additional details. The Pentagon referred questions to the Army. Driscoll's resignation was reported earlier Monday by The Wall Street Journal.
Driscoll’s departure follows the ouster of one of his allies from the Army as well as the rollback of a drone program he had championed. Hegseth had suddenly ousted the service's top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George, in April, while the Army’s commander in Europe and Africa, Gen. Christopher Donahue, unexpectedly stepped down in June.
Gen. Christopher LaNeve, who has made a meteoric rise under Hegseth, took George's place as the Army’s acting chief of staff. Under LaNeve, the service is pulling the plug on a drone modernization program. An Army unit based in Europe was building its own drones before LaNeve directed it to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion, officials said in August.
Driscoll was a George ally and lamented his departure, along with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. He told Congress in April that he and his family drove to George's house following his resignation “and we all gave him a hug.”
“That being said, the civilian leadership, the design of our system, is that they get to pick the leaders that they want," Driscoll added.
Rep. Steve Womack, an Arkansas Republican who had served in the Army National Guard, said on X that Driscoll is “a transformative leader who brought common sense and discipline to the Department of the Army.”
“I had the pleasure of working with him closely, and appreciated how engaged he was from mentoring cadets at West Point to leading the Army at the Pentagon,” Womack wrote. “The Army is better equipped and prepared to tackle emerging threats because of his leadership that strengthened the force while putting our Soldiers first.”
Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger, told reporters that he worked well with Driscoll despite their policy differences.
“It was actually nice, I will say, having somebody who was smart, that knew the policy, that wanted to do the work, that had a background in these issues,” Crow said, adding that “it’s unfortunate that somebody like that can’t last in this administration.”
Crow, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and co-chairs the House Army Caucus, said the “Pentagon right now is, in some cases, rudderless,” with so many senior leaders gone. “So, I'm gravely concerned about it," he said.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that Driscoll “worked to transform the Army for the battlefield of the future, and he engaged with Congress candidly and consistently.”
“Secretary Hegseth is cultivating a culture where dissent is punished and competence is secondary to personal allegiance,” said Reed, a former Army officer, while noting that “hundreds of thousands of soldiers are deployed around the world, many in combat zones.”
Driscoll is an Iraq war veteran, tech investor and former adviser to Vance, whom Driscoll met at Yale Law School. When nominating Driscoll in 2024, Trump called him “a disruptor and change agent.”
As Army secretary, Driscoll was tapped for the unusual role of key negotiator to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. He was also a major force behind trying to cut the red tape for military contractors to quickly develop more drones and counter-drone capabilities as warfare rapidly changes around the world.
The Senate confirmed him in February 2025, voting 66-28, following an Armed Services Committee hearing that was largely unconfrontational and focused on how the Army could modernize its systems, improve recruiting and beef up the military industrial base.
Driscoll noted that his father and grandfather served in the Army, and he vowed to be a secretary focused on the needs of soldiers. According to the Army, Driscoll served as an armor officer from August 2007 to March 2011, deploying to Iraq from October 2009 to July 2010.
He also ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for a North Carolina congressional seat in 2020, getting about 8% of the vote in a crowded field of candidates.
His departure comes after Hegseth ousted several other generals and admirals, including the head of the Navy.
The Pentagon abruptly announced in April that Navy Secretary John Phelan was leaving the job, becoming the first head of a military service to depart during Trump’s second term.
FILE - U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll speaks at the America 250 celebration at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C., June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Karl DeBlaker, File)
