Nationals wake up, rally to top Marlins
Washington digs out of 9-0 hole, stops skid
WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals are far from finished. Not after briefly slipping below .500 this week. And certainly not after spotting the Miami Marlins the first nine runs Thursday night.
Trea Turner hit two homers, including his first career grand slam, and drove in eight runs to help Washington rally past Miami 14-12 in a wild slugfest to end a five-game losing streak.
“Not to get ahead of ourselves, put together wins, try to win a series,” first baseman Matt Adams said. “I think that’s what we’re going to focus on from here on out, win two out of three, win three out of four. If that’s the case, then the wins will start stacking on top of each other, and we’ll just get rolling the way we’re capable of.”
The Nationals, who dropped 17 of their previous 22, have won 12 consecutive games against Miami dating to last season — their longest winning streak against any team since the franchise moved to Washington in 2005.
It was also the largest comeback victory since the team left Montreal. The Nationals rallied from eight runs down to defeat Atlanta 13-12 on April 28, 2015.
The victory came a day after the Nationals called a players-only meeting after Washington was swept by Boston and slipped under .500 for the first time since May 2. But things didn’t start smoothly. Miami scored an unearned run in the first, and capped a six-run second on Martin Prado’s three-run homer off the left-field foul pole. The Marlins made it 9-0 on Justin Bour’s two-run homer in the fourth off Jeremy Hellickson.
Despite the huge deficit, Washington was far from out of it.
Turner led off the fourth with a solo shot off Marlins starter Pablo Lopez, who surrendered four more runs in the fifth, including two on Juan Soto’s double. Adam Conley (2-1) then allowed four of the first five hitters he faced to reach in the sixth before Turner smacked a twoout fastball with the bases loaded into Miami’s bullpen to give the Nationals a stunning 10-9 lead. It was Turner’s third career multihomer game.
“Command was an issue today, so I wasn’t able to get the ball where I wanted,” Conley said. “My hat’s off to him. I thought the ball was coming out pretty good today, so for him to get ahold of it, that’s the way the game goes. If the game were easy, everybody would play it.”
Turner added a two-run single in Washington’s four-run seventh. His eight RBIS tied for the most ever by a leadoff hitter, according to STATS LLC.
“When we were down 7-0, I feel like we still for sure had a shot — 9-0, it hurts a little bit more, but we did it,” Turner said. “I think once we got the first run on the board, it kind of just got the momentum back on our side and we continued to push. I think that’s what we’re capable of.”