The Nationals win a laugher at 18-4 behind 7 innings from Max Scherzer, and 10 RBIs from Mark Reynolds who padded his stats after his walk-off home run last night to add 2 more home runs in a 5-for-5 night that was a triple short of a cycle. In his last 3 games, Reynolds is 6-for-6 with 5 runs scored and 11 RBIs with 3 HR, double, 2 singles and a Walk-off. Tonight his 10 RBIs tied a Washington Nationals record set last year by Anthony Rendon. Reynolds is the 15th player in MLB history to record at least 10 RBIs in a game. Reynolds with Trea Turner set a record as the only pair with at least 8 RBIs in a week.
“Over the last week [Mark Reynolds] has been hitting the ball really good,” manager Dave Martinez said. “Once again I thought I was going to sleep nice, now I have to think about where I’m going to put him tomorrow. (laughing) I’ve seen him like this. When he gets hot like this, he can stay hot for a while. We’ll have to figure something out and see if we can get him in there tomorrow.”
For Reynolds, he can go to sleep with a smile on his face so long as he does not think much about the future.
“I’m going to sleep just fine. That’s [Davey’s] problem,” Reynolds said laughing about Martinez’s sleeping issues. “I’ll be ready to go either way.”
The game started off with a Nationals 2-0 lead on a Reynolds home run, but Max Scherzer gave up two solo home runs and the Marlins tied the game. The Nationals clawed back to take a 3-2 lead but Scherzer then gave a run right back. With the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 5th inning, it was Max Scherzer who led-off with a single. Trea Turner grounded into what should have been a tailor-made doubleplay but Marlins 2nd baseman Starlin Castro bobbled the ball and could only get Scherzer at 2nd base. The Marlins starting pitcher, Wei-Yin Chen, became preoccupied with Trea Turner on 1st base and seemed to lose concentration and fell apart. The Nationals batted around and scored 7 runs including an Anthony Rendon 2-run double which was his first RISP hit in 8-days. Mark Reynolds hit a 2-run single, and the exclamation point was added by a Pedro Severino 3-run blast.
The game in an instant went from a 3-3 tie to a 10-3 laugher, and the Nationals were not done. They would score 3 more times the following inning with another Mark Reynolds home run and this one was the 3-run variety to go with his earlier 2-run blast and his solo walk-off last night. Scoring on that play was Trea Turner who walked and a Bryce Harper single which was his 3rd hit of the night in a game where Bryce was 3-3 with a walk and 4 runs scored. All of his hits were singles and two of them were scorched line drives.
The Nationals had 17-hits and 4-walks in the game and every Nationals player with an official at-bat reached base safely. The only Nats starter without a hit was Michael Taylor who reached base on a walk.
“Max Scherzer came in and said I want to go out for the seventh [inning],” manager Dave Martinez said. “That’s what he is. That’s who he is. He’ll do whatever for this team.”
With Max Scherzer going 7.0 innings with 109 pitches, he saved the bullpen and with Shawn Kelley getting double-switched into the game, he was able to pitch 2 scoreless innings giving the rest of the bullpen a much needed night off.
The Nationals have now won three games in a row. That’s called a winning streak!
