Nationals ride early six-run rally to rout of Reds (updated)

Compile a list of "Things the Nationals Need to Do Better to Make the Playoffs in 2018," and somewhere near the top it would read: "Better Situational Hitting."

It's not the only thing this team lacked through the season's first four months, but it's among the most significant, and one of the best ways to ensure a higher rate of success in the season's final two months.

So consider how important the bottom of the second inning was in tonight's 10-4 victory over the Reds, when the Nationals scored six runs without benefit of a homer, the final five all coming with two outs, to earn their third straight win.

It was the kind of sustained rally the Nats have often searched in vain for this year, but the kind that could make a huge difference down the stretch as they attempt to catch the Phillies and Braves (who both won tonight) and win the National League East.

"That's really good to see, and that's encouraging," manager Davey Martinez said. "They're all having good at-bats now, and that's really good. We've just got to keep it going. They're really starting to string at-bats together throughout the inning, which is nice to see."

Max Scherzer's six innings of 10-strikeout ball certainly helped, as well. As did some lockdown work from a trio of relievers who didn't give anyone in the crowd of 28,845 reason to believe a comeback was in the cards for Jim Riggleman's Reds.

But the game was won during that second-inning rally, which featured a couple of strange moments but more quality at-bats from the entire lineup.

It all got started thanks to Riggleman's decision to intentionally walk Daniel Murphy to load the bases with one out for the .198-hitting Matt Wieters - who promptly crushed a ball to right-center that looked to everyone like a sure grand slam until it hung up just enough for Billy Hamilton to make a leaping catch at the wall.

The strangest part: Bryce Harper, who was on third base, was down the line a way, assuming the ball would at worst carom off the wall. He had to sprint back to the bag to tag up, and nearly was thrown out at the plate by Hamilton.

No worries, though, because who else but Scherzer could the Nats count on to keep the line moving? The pitcher strode to the plate with two on and two out, already hitting a cool .400 (6-for-15) with runners in scoring position this season. But when hitting coach Kevin Long informed him earlier in the day he was 0-for-6 with a man on third and less than two outs ... well, you know where this is going.

"He just talked enough trash to me, and I hate when people talk trash to me," Scherzer said. "So I just got to go out and do something about it."

Which he, of course, did. Scherzer laced an RBI single through the right side of the infield, finally delivering that missing hit with a man on third. Oh, he also extended his hitting streak to five games. And bumped his batting average to .292. And raised his average with runners in scoring position to a mere .438.

(If you're wondering, and you know you are: Opponents have hit only .146 with runners in scoring position against Scherzer this season.)

"I looked up and saw he was hitting .290, and I was like: Geez!" Trea Turner said. "It does feel like every time he gets up, he gets a hit. But he works at it. He's one of the ones that takes it very seriously and wants to win that battle up at the plate."

Up 2-0 after Scherzer's hit, the Nationals didn't let up. After Adam Eaton was hit by a pitch, Turner delivered a two-run single up the middle to make it 4-0.

Then, another weird moment: Anthony Rendon's hard chopper up the middle struck second base umpire Andy Fletcher, leading to the usage of a little-known rule. A batted ball that hits an umpire remains live, unless the umpire is positioned in front of the infielders, which Fletcher was on this play. The rule for that scenario: Dead ball, batter awarded first base, runners allowed to advance only if forced (which they weren't in this case).

Anyway, it all proved moot when Tyler Mahle proceeded to walk Harper with the bases loaded and was replaced by Keury Mella, who then walked Juan Soto with the bases still loaded to force in the sixth run of an impressive inning.

"Got to keep going, keep grinding," Harper said. "Keep having good at-bats and keep putting pressure on them. If we can do that and get to their bullpen, it means we're scoring a lot of runs and giving our pitchers an opportunity to win a ballgame."

Everything else after the second inning was matter-of-fact. The Nationals added another run in the third on Eaton's two-out RBI single, then tacked on three more when Turner and Harper each launched homers off Raisel Iglesias in the eighth.

Scherzer racked up 110 pitches in only six innings but struck out 10 for the 12th time in 23 starts this season. His lone mistake: a hanging cutter to Eugenio Suárez, who belted it to left field for a two-run homer in the fourth.

Handed a comfortable lead, the bullpen then closed things out to secure the Nationals' third straight win and fifth in their last seven games, with rookie Jimmy Cordero giving up two runs in the ninth in his major league debut.

No, they didn't gain any ground in the standings after the Braves handled the Mets and the Phillies scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to stun the Marlins. But the Nationals have played much better baseball in recent days, they're back to two games over the .500 mark and feeling good when they take the field each night.

As Martinez said: "Things are starting to come together."