On Friday the Nationals began a stretch of 12 straight games against division foes and the first of eight contests against the lowly Marlins in the next few weeks.
Needing to make up ground quickly, Washington returned home to Nationals Park and ace Max Scherzer tossed six shutout innings and scored two runs to beat the last-place Marlins 8-2.
Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Wieters hit homers, and Adam Eaton and Bryce Harper had three hits for the winners. Harper got his 500thcareer RBI with a single in the seventh to make it 6-2 and lift his average to .248.
The third-place Nationals (62-61), who pounded out 14 hits, entered the day eight games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves and 6.5 games behind the second-place Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies also won Friday night.
“What we have to focus on is today,” said Nationals manager Dave Martinez. “We know what we are up against. We are playing well. The boys are starting to hit.”
The Nationals, the two-time defending East champs, face the Phillies nine more times this year and the Braves three times.
Even with the win the Nationals have won just three of their last eight and are 9-8 this month. It was the first home game for Washington since a seven-game road trip that saw the Nationals go 2-5 against the Cubs and Cardinals.
Scherzer (16-5, 2.11 ERA), who leads the league in wins, allowed five hits and had seven strikeouts against the Marlins. He has 234 strikeouts this year to pace the National League.
Harper led off the fifth with a double and later scored as the Nationals grabbed a 5-0 advantage.
Nationals catcher Wieters hit his fifth homer of the year, a solo shot to right, as Washington took a 3-0 lead in the fourth. Later in the inning Scherzer doubled and scored to make it 4-0. Scherzer has a hit in seven of his last eight starts and is batting 296.
The Nationals took a 2-0 lead in the third as Harper had an RBI single to score Scherzer, whose slide into home just beat the throw of Marlins right fielder Rafael Ortega.
Washington grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second as Zimmerman crushed a homer to left off Dan Straily (4-6), the Marlins starter and loser. It was the 10th homer of the year for Zimmerman, who hit 36 longballs last season.
Nationals reliever Trevor Gott came on the seventh and allowed a homer to Marlins rookie Austin Dean – the first hit of his career.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly was ejected in the bottom of the fourth inning for arguing with the umpires. Derek Dietrich of the Marlins was called out on strikes to end the top of the fourth on a pitch that was just outside of the strike zone.
The second game of the series with the Marlins is Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Lefty Tommy Milone (1-1, 5.24) is slated to start for Washington, with lefty Wei-Yin Chen (4-9, 5.32) getting the ball for the Marlins.
The series ends Sunday at 1:35 p.m. with Washington lefty Gio Gonzalez (7-9, 4.12) facing righty Pablo Lopez (2-3, 4.79) of the Marlins.
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