Rendon departs in fifth with apparent injury (Nats lose 8-7)

MIAMI - The Nationals thought they had tonight's series opener in hand, up six runs in the third inning. But that lead dissipated in a hurry against Tanner Roark.

And if that wasn't agonizing enough to watch, Anthony Rendon then had to be removed from the game with an apparent injury.

Rendon had made a quick-reflex, diving snag of Giancarlo Stanton's rocket grounder in the bottom of the third - the ball left the Miami slugger's bat at a whopping 114 mph - and managed to throw across the diamond from his backside. That throw, though, sailed wide and required an equally impressive diving stop from Ryan Zimmerman to avoid an error.

All the while, Rendon remained on the ground near third base, apparently shaken up from the play. He remained in the field to finish that inning and also returned to play the bottom of the fourth, making a difficult catch of a foul popup along the railing.

But when his turn to bat came up in the fifth, Rendon was replaced by Stephen Drew. The precise nature of Rendon's injury wasn't immediately known - the Nationals do not provide in-game injury updates - but MASN's Dan Kolko reported from the dugout that trainers were looking at Rendon's neck.

Anthony Rendon is coming out of this game. Stephen Drew will pinch-hit. Rendon was getting neck area looked at by trainers after that dive

-- Dan Kolko (@masnKolko) June 20, 2017

Meanwhile, the Nationals have retaken a 7-6 lead in what has become a wild game. After leading 6-0 early, Roark gave all the runs back in the bottom of the third, the big blow coming on Justin Bour's grand slam.

But Matt Grace was able to stop the bleeding with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, and Drew's RBI double in the top of the fifth scored Zimmerman to give the Nationals the lead again.

Update: The Nats got 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief from Matt Grace and Oliver Pérez, but then Jacob Turner was brought in to face Giancarlo Stanton. And you can imagine what happened next: Opposite-field home run. This game is tied again, 7-7, heading to the eighth.

Update II: Nats lose 8-7. Enny Romero loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth, then despite getting ahead 0-2 in the count to Marcell Ozuna, served up the game-winning hit, a laser to the gap in left-center.