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MIAMI - Washington Nationals manager Dusty Baker called Ben Revere his team's "igniter." Before this weekend at Marlins Park, that ignition switch had been a dud for the Nationals, who acquired Revere from the Toronto Blue Jays in a January trade for reliever Drew Storen.
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On Sunday, though, leadoff-man Revere had three hits, two steals, two runs scored and two RBIs, and Max Scherzer pitched eight strong innings as the first-place Nationals defeated the Miami Marlins 8-2.
Revere, who started the day hitting just .148, went 3-for-5 and is batting .182. He improved his batting average 59 points in two days.
"When you see (Revere) steal bags and have success at the plate, that just creates so much extra offense for us," Scherzer said. "When he's on base, with his speed, all you have to do is get the ball in play, and it's a run."
Scherzer (5-3) allowed six hits, no walks and two runs, and he also got support from Anthony Rendon, who had a double, a triple and three RBIs.
The Nationals (27-17) took two out of three games from the Marlins (22-21) in a battle of NL East rivals. The Nationals are 7-6 against Miami this season.
Miami's Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-4, passing Willie Keeler for 32nd place on the major-league hit list with 2,956. Suzuki also had an infield hit taken away in the fourth inning when the umpire's call was reversed on video review. Had that stood as a hit, Suzuki would have been 7-for-8 in the past two games.
Marlins starter Adam Conley (3-3) took the loss, allowing seven hits, a career-high seven walks and six runs in 5 1/3 innings. He has dropped both of his decisions against Washington this season.
"Putting a guy on for free is about my least favorite thing in baseball," Conley said of his walks. "Seven of their guys got on, in my eyes, without earning it, and that's a hard pill to swallow."
Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton made news in the fifth inning when he singled to center, snapping an 0-for-19 streak that included 16 strikeouts. Stanton made hard contact on a 3-2 slider that was up in the zone.
Stanton, who has averaged 32 homers per season over the past five years, may not be over his slump yet. He finished the game 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and has just five hits in his past 52-at bats.
Suzuki has more hits than that in the past 24 hours, but that doesn't mean that Stanton isn't feared around the league.
"You know he's scuffling, but you know he's a great hitter," Scherzer said.
Revere, meanwhile, got Washington going with the game's first at-bat, singling to center on an 0-2 pitch. He stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Harper. Miami's Marcell Ozuna caught the ball in shallow center field but overthrew his catcher.
The Nationals took a 3-0 lead in the third. Revere bunted for a hit, advanced on a groundout, stole third and scored on Daniel Murphy's infield single. Murphy scored on a two-out double to left by Rendon.
Conley got himself in trouble again by walking the first two batters in the sixth. Washington cashed in with an RBI single by Danny Espinosa and Revere's two-run single.
Miami's Justin Bour pulled a two-run homer to the upper deck in right field in the seventh inning to cut Washington's lead to 6-2. It was the second straight day in which Bour hit a two-run homer, with both shots landing in the upper deck in right.
Despite the homer on Sunday, Bour said he has much respect for Scherzer.
"He's going to come at you with his fastball, and he's had a lot of success," Bour said. "I was just trying to trust my bat."
Rendon capped the scoring with a two-run triple to the right-field corner in the ninth. But by that time, the game was virtually over, thanks in large part to Revere.
"I struggled getting the leadoff guy out," Conley said of Revere. "He's a great runner, veteran guy, a pro out there on the bases."
NOTES: Two Marlins outfielders made outstanding catches. CF Marcell Ozuna robbed 3B Anthony Rendon of extra bases up against the center-field wall in the second inning. RF Giancarlo Stanton made a diving catch in shallow right field, robbing 1B Ryan Zimmerman of a seventh-inning hit. ... On Saturday, Marlins LF Ichiro Suzuki, 42, became the oldest player to go 4-for-4 or better since Pete Rose went 5-for-5 at age 45 on August 11, 1986. Six games later, Rose played his final game. ... Marlins LF Christian Yelich (back) missed his second straight game and is day to day. ... Miami's J.T. Realmuto on Saturday tied an NL record for a catcher by participating in three double plays. The last catcher to do it was Henry Blanco in 2006. ... From May 9 to May 21, Washington's bullpen was the best in the majors with a 0.57 ERA, not allowing any of 20 inherited runners to score. ... Next up, Washington plays host to its NL East rival, the New York Mets, Monday through Wednesday. ... The Marlins play the Rays for four straight games, the first two in Miami and then two in Tampa Bay.
