SCHWARBER BLASTS NATS TO WITHIN 3 1/2 GAMES OF METS IN NL EAST!

By Sam Bush

Kyle Schwarber homered twice, raising his season total to 21 by hitting 12 in his past 13 games, and the Nats beat the Miami Marlins 7-3 for their 10th win in 11 games.

Washington is now 36-36, 3 1/2 games behind the Mets in NL East.

Schwarber led off the first pulling a hanging curveball from Cody Poteet (2-3) to right for his fifth leadoff home run this season.

Josh Harrison singled with one out in the second, Victor Robles walked, and with two outs Schwarber sent a 0-2 fastball over the wall in center for a 4-0 lead.

“You’re not going up there expecting to hit home runs every time you’re up at the plate,” Schwarber said. “But hitting a home run when you’re locked in the plate, good things happen.”

Schwarber became the first player in major league history to homer 11 times in a 13-game span from the No. 1 slot in the batting order, according to STATS. He became the fourth player with eight home runs and 15 RBI in a five-game span, joining Shawn Green, Manny Ramirez and Frank Howard.

“When he’s like that, you don’t say much to him,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “You let him go out there and play the game and let him get his swings. He’s been awesome getting us going. He’s knocked in some big runs for us. Hopefully he’s hot for a while.”

Juan Soto added the first of his two RBI doubles later in the inning.

Joe Ross (4-7) allowed four hits in seven scoreless inning, helping Washington extend its winning streak to five.

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