Photo : Mitchell Layton ( Getty Images It’s been a hell of a couple days for Mark Reynolds! A hero in two important breakthrough wins for the Nationals on Friday and Saturday, Reynolds somehow managed to have an even more eventful day at the park on Sunday. To recap: Reynolds turned the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night into a pinch-hit walk-off dinger, featuring an emphatic bat flip (or perhaps I imagined the bat flip when I was cartwheeling around my living room? ): Advertisement The very next pitch Reynolds saw, Saturday afternoon, he also turned around for a mammoth dinger, a two-run shot to give the Nationals the early lead: That dinger was just the warmup for Reynolds’s pristine 5-for-5, 10 RBI night, part of the Nationals’ cathartic 18-4 victory over the woeful Marlins. The 10 runs batted in were a career high for Reynolds, as were the five hits, and the RBI total tied an all-time Nationals record. For his efforts, Reynolds was rewarded with another start on Sunday, at third base, for the final game of the series. The powerful hitting continued—Reynolds went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a run—but the Marlins rubbed out Washington’s momentum with a whopping 22 hits, including a hilarious 20 singles, and another five walks, en route to a 10-2 victory. One thing that happens when your pitchers give up 22 hits and five walks in the final game of a series that’s already been settled is the manager starts looking around for position players who might be available to take the rubber and luck their way into an out or two. That’s exactly what happened Sunday afternoon: reliever Ryan Madson, brought on to work the top of the ninth, needed 32 pitches to get two outs, surrendering four hits and four runs along the way; m anager Davey Martinez, with the game fully out of reach, knew what to do. Advertisement Advertisement Hell yes! A delightful ending to a brilliant series for a journeyman veteran. This would be Reynolds’s first ever appearance on the mound, and it’s almost certainly the first time a guy made a relief appearance after a 10-RBI game. So how’d he do? Advertisement Three pitches, one strike, one soft grounder to the right side, one out. A job well done. If Washington’s starting pitching doesn’t improve, this may not be the last time we see Reynolds take the mound this season. The Nationals bullpen has been getting worn out lately, with Max Scherzer the only Nats starter regularly making it out of the fourth inning, and the team still scrambling to cover for the absence of Stephen Strasburg. But if Reynolds can fling that 74-mph knuckleball and induce a few harmless grounders, another appearance or two might not be the worst thing in the world. Certainly his first appearance jazzed up the end of an otherwise stupid-as-hell July baseball game.<doc-sep>The Nationals beat the Marlins, 18-4, earning their third straight victory since a players-only meeting in which they urged each other to remember what they are capable of and play like it. Suddenly, they are doing just that. They, as with Reynolds, watched a brutal stretch end as they always knew it would — or said they knew it would, or figured it had to, or some combination of the three. Whatever they knew or didn’t know, whatever confidence they feigned, they have scored 35 times in their past three games. They scored 100 runs in June.<doc-sep>Earlier this week it appeared the 2018 season was in danger of getting away from the Washington Nationals. They'd dropped 10 of 12 games and were a game under .500 at 42-43 on July 5. It wasn't crazy to wonder if they'd sell at the trade deadline. Since then though, the Nationals have rattled off three straight wins and they were no ordinary wins. The club erased erased a 9-0 deficit Thursday (WAS 14, MIA 12), and, on Friday, Mark Reynolds clubbed a pinch-hit walk-off home run (MIA 3, WAS 2). Reynolds had an even better day at the plate Saturday. In the team's rout of the Marlins (WAS 18, MIA 4), Reynolds went 5 for 5 with two home runs and 10 RBI. It was the second five-hit game of his career -- he had a 5 for 5 day in his 10th big-league game back in 2007 -- and, of course, his first 10 RBI day. Here's the video of Reynolds' career day at the plate: "These things don't happen often," said Reynolds to reporters, including MLB.com's Kyle Melnick, following Saturday's game. "I've been playing a long time and I've only had five (RBI in a game). You got a little luck involved. Sometimes you just take good swings the night before and you feel confident going into the next day, and that's what happened." Reynolds, who didn't sign with Washington until April 12, is the 15th player in history with a 10 RBI game and the second Nationals player to do it. Anthony Rendon went 6 for 6 with three home runs and 10 RBI in a game last April. Prior to Reynolds, the last player with a 10 RBI game was Scooter Gennett, who did it during his four-homer game last June. Here are the 15 10 RBI games in baseball history: July 7, 2018: Mark Reynolds, Nationals (10 RBI) Mark Reynolds, Nationals (10 RBI) June 6, 2017: Scooter Gennett, Reds (10 RBI) Scooter Gennett, Reds (10 RBI) April 30, 2017: Anthony Rendon, Nationals (10 RBI) Anthony Rendon, Nationals (10 RBI) Aug. 21, 2007: Garret Anderson , Angels (10 RBI) , Angels (10 RBI) April 26, 2005: Alex Rodriguez , Yankees (10 RBI) , Yankees (10 RBI) May 10, 1999: Nomar Garciaparra, Red Sox (10 RBI) Nomar Garciaparra, Red Sox (10 RBI) Sept. 7, 1993: Mark Whiten, Cardinals (12 RBI) Mark Whiten, Cardinals (12 RBI) April 30, 1944: Phil Weintraub, Giants (11 RBI) Phil Weintraub, Giants (11 RBI) June 18, 1975: Fred Lynn, Red Sox (10 RBI) Fred Lynn, Red Sox (10 RBI) July 14, 1969: Reggie Jackson, Athletics (10 RBI) Reggie Jackson, Athletics (10 RBI) May 27, 1955: Norm Zauchin, Red Sox (10 RBI) Norm Zauchin, Red Sox (10 RBI) July 6, 1949: Walker Cooper, Reds (10 RBI) Walker Cooper, Reds (10 RBI) July 27, 1946: Rudy York, Red Sox (10 RBI) Rudy York, Red Sox (10 RBI) May 24, 1936: Tony Lazzeri, Yankees (11 RBI) Tony Lazzeri, Yankees (11 RBI) Sept. 16, 1924: Jim Bottomley, Cardinals (12 RBI) Kinda weird that 12 of 15 10 RBI games in history belong to five franchises (Cardinals, Nationals, Reds, Red Sox, Yankees). I guess that makes sense though. Aside from the Nationals, those franchises have been around basically since the dawn of time.<doc-sep>
On Wednesday, the Washington Nationals held a players-only meeting in the midst of a slump that saw 17 losses in 22 games for the preseason NL East favorites. Whatever they talked about must have worked. The Nationals have been on an offensive tear since, including Saturday’s 18-4 win over the Miami Marlins powered by a huge night from first baseman Mark Reynolds. Mark Reynolds has career night Reynolds, fresh from hitting a walk-off home run to top the Marlins on Friday, had a career night at the plate on Saturday, going 5-for-5 with two home runs and a whopping 10 RBI. Mark Reynolds went on a 10-RBI tear on Saturday to tie a team record and power the once-slumping Nationals to their third straight win. (AP) He got the scoring started in the second inning with a first-pitch two-run blast to left off of Wei-Yin Chen to score Bryce Harper and mark back-to-back plate appearances with a home run. His second home run carried over the center field wall at Nationals Park with Harper and Trea Turner on base to give the Nationals a 13-3 lead in the sixth inning. By the time the night was over, Reynolds had tallied two singles, a double and a pair of home runs. Entering the night, Reynolds was hitting .257 with eight home runs and 14 RBI. His 10 RBI on Saturday tied a single-game team record set by Anthony Rendon last season. Nationals pounding Marlins to bust slump The Nationals’ win comes two days after a posting 14-12 win over the same Marlins team that included a rally from a 9-0 deficit and ended a five-game losing streak. Washington has won three straight since. Max Scherzer was reportedly vocal in Wednesday’s team meeting, and must have said something that inspired his teammates. Or maybe it’s just that facing the Marlins is the cure to most baseball ails in 2018. More from Yahoo Sports: • Kyrie Irving never wanted LeBron to return to Cleveland in 2014 • Here’s what the 2018 MLB All-Star teams should look like • Brazil’s hopes were dashed by World Cup’s dumbest rule • OSU sex abuse charge makes it clear that silence is a thing of the past MLB video from Yahoo Sports