Depleted Nats rally from early deficit to rout Marlins (updated)

MIAMI - Their No. 2 starter back on the disabled list with a mysterious neck injury, two of their top hitters out of the lineup and their emergency starter in a three-run hole early, the Nationals had given even their most ardent supporters no legitimate reason to be optimistic after one inning of baseball tonight at Marlins Park.

If this weekend series really is going to determine the front office's approach to Tuesday's trade deadline, and by extension determine whether a late-season run is possible from a club that has underachieved for nearly four months, the guys in curly W caps weren't exactly making a case for themselves.

But then a funny thing happened. Tommy Milone settled in and turned in a productive start in place of Stephen Strasburg. Trea Turner, Juan Soto, Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Matt Wieters, Wilmer Difo and Michael A. Taylor delivered eight run-scoring, extra-base hits to compensate for the lack of Anthony Rendon (on paternity leave) and Daniel Murphy (out of the lineup to rest his legs).

And after the back end of the Nationals bullpen posted four straight zeros to close out an oh-so-needed, 10-3 victory over the Marlins, supporters of this team are entitled to have a glimmer of hope for at least another 24 hours.

"Really good comeback win," manager Davey Martinez said. "To see the offense hit the ball like that and score that many (runs) after being down 3-0 in the first inning was really, really good. We've got to continue doing what we're doing."

Indeed, there's still much work to do. And there's still no guarantee general manager Mike Rizzo and his bosses won't decide to become surprise sellers before 4 p.m. Tuesday. But if the Nationals can keep playing more games like this, they might just convince the folks in charge not to give up on the 2018 season before it's two-thirds complete.

The good news: The Nats are back at the .500 mark, having won two in a row to improve to 51-51. Also good news: The Braves lost to the Dodgers, so the deficit between second and third place is down to 4 1/2 games. The bad news: The Phillies beat the Reds to extend their winning streak to three games, leaving the Nationals 7 games back in the National League East with only 60 remaining on the schedule.

"Yeah, it's getting late in the season," Turner said. "But 60 games to make up seven is very doable."

"There's still plenty of confidence in this room," Zimmerman added. "We haven't put ourselves in an ideal situation. But if we play well the next couple weeks and cut that number in half and get closer, it'll be a fun last month and a half for us. I don't even know if any of us think about (selling), to be honest with you."

The Nationals hoped for the best but were prepared for something far less from Milone in his last-minute start in place of Strasburg. The 31-year-old Milone has plenty of big league experience (126 career starts, dating all the way back 2011 with the Nats) but this was his first appearance on a major league mound this season, and it was coming in what might as well have been a must-win game.

Twenty minutes in, Milone and the Nationals appeared to be headed for disaster. Four hits - all of them well-struck - in the bottom of the first produced three runs for the Marlins and left the visitors in yet another early hole.

But the well-traveled lefty settled in after that and found his groove. Keeping the ball over the plate - he didn't issue any walks - he scattered four more hits but didn't let another cross the plate before departing following the bottom of the fifth.

"Coming out for the first time, it was kind of just a little bit of anxious, I guess," he said. "Nervous, whatever you want to call it. I settled down after that and felt pretty good."

It wasn't a work of art, but five innings of three-run ball was good enough on this night for Milone and good enough for the Nats to have a chance to mount a comeback tonight.

It took a little while for that comeback to get going. But once it did, it was impressive.

Turner and Soto ignited the rally in the top of the fourth with a pair of solo homers, Turner's clanking off the Home Run Sculpture in left-center and Soto's reaching the right field bleachers three batters later.

It continued in the sixth when Zimmerman delivered a much-needed, two-out double off the wall in left-center, bringing Adam Eaton home with the tying run.

And then it was capped off during a weird seventh that was nearly done in by a baserunning blunder by Difo - who advanced only one base on Taylor's drive off the right field wall - but was rescued by Turner's two-run triple into the right field corner.

Moments later, Harper - who struck out in each of his three previous at-bats - shot a 3-0 pitch from lefty Adam Conley just inside the first base line to bring Turner home and extend the Nationals' lead to three runs.

And they were just getting started. RBI extra-base hits by Wieters, Difo and Taylor in the top of the ninth added four more runs, extended the lead to 10-3 and allowed closer Kelvin Herrera to avoid pitching for the third straight day after both Brandon Kintzler and Ryan Madson were used while the score was still close.

"I think we did a good job of getting into good hitters' counts," Zimmerman said. "So much about this league is swinging at strikes. Swing the count into your favor, and you're in the driver's seat. Tonight we did a really good job of that."