Mark Reynolds may have sent his manager toward a sleepless night.

How is Dave Martinez supposed to rest when he’s got to figure out whether Reynolds’ career night earned him another start Sunday?

”Well Youth Billy Price Jersey , I mean I’m going to sleep just fine. That’s his problem,” Reynolds joked afterward. ”I’ll be ready to go either way.”

Reynolds homered twice and drove in a career-high 10 runs, Max Scherzer won for the first time since June 5, and the Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins 18-4 on Saturday night.

Martinez said he’ll have to think about where to put the right-handed hitting Reynolds when the Marlins start a right-hander on Sunday. Martinez has other options at first base, including left-handed hitters Matt Adams and Daniel Murphy.

Washington has won three straight and scored a combined 35 runs since calling a players-only meeting on Wednesday after falling under .500 for the first time since May 2.

Reynolds (5 for 5) tied his career high for hits and equaled the Nationals’ RBI record.

Reynolds hit a two-run homer in the second inning into the same visitors’ bullpen where his walk-off homer landed on Friday. He followed that up with an RBI double in the second, a two-run single in the fifth, a three-run homer in the sixth, and a two-run single in the seventh.

”Yeah, that’s like a good two weeks,” Reynolds said. ”These things don’t happen often.”

Signed as minor league free agent in April, Reynolds is 12 for 23 with four home runs since June 29.

”I’ve seen him like this,” Martinez said. ”When he gets hot like this he can stay hot for a while, so we’ll have to figure something out, see if we can get him in tomorrow.”

Washington, which has won 14 straight against Miami, broke it open by batting around the order and scoring a season-best seven runs in the fifth inning.

”We haven’t had any success with them in a while now Womens Henrik Zetterberg Jersey ,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. ”They’re a good lineup up and down, but we’ve pitched better than this.”

Scherzer (11-5), who was 0-4 in his previous five starts, pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on four hits – three of which were home runs. The Nationals had been shut out in three of Scherzer’s previous five starts.

Miami starter Wei-Yin Chen (2-6) lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits.

Bryce Harper had three hits and an intentional walk.

Starlin Castro and J.T. Realmuto hit the first back-to-back home runs of the season for the Marlins in the fourth inning. Yadiel Rivera hit his first homer of the season in the seventh.

STREAK SNAPPED

The Marlins were 9-0 this season in games in which Realmuto homered before Saturday night.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins: OF Brian Anderson was out of the lineup for the first time this season. After playing in Miami’s first 90 games, Mattingly said it was time for a breather. … Mattingly said OF Lewis Brinson (right hip) is still sore and ”doing a little treatment, and that’s all.”

Nationals: Martinez said RHP Stephen Strasburg (shoulder inflammation) is scheduled to go on a rehab assignment Tuesday with the goal of throwing 50-60 pitches. … OF Victor Robles (hyperextended left elbow) and RHP Koda Glover (right shoulder tendinitis) both played in a Gulf Coast League game Friday. Martinez said Glover is ”progressing well” but that he wouldn’t be pitching in back-to-back games. … C Matt Wieters (left hamstring strain) went 1 for 4 in a rehab start with Double-A Harrisburg and is expected to play again on Sunday before being re-evaluated.

UP NEXT

Marlins: Rookie RHP Trevor Richards (2-5, 5.26 ERA) makes his first start against the Nationals in the series finale.

Nationals: RHP Tanner Roark (3-10, 4.60 ERA) is looking for his first win since June 6. Roark is 5-8 with a 3.99 ERA in 22 games against the Marlins.

Steve Wilks took over as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals saying he was humbled by the job but exhibiting an abundance of confidence that he can do it well.

The 48-year-old coach, promoted after just one season as defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers, was introduced at a news conference Tuesday, bringing a reputation of connecting easily with his players as he replaces Bruce Arians, who retired after five colorful seasons and 50 victories in Arizona.

”We found a great leader,” Cardinals President Michael Bidwill said, ”and not just a leader with a high football IQ but also a high football `EQ’ (emotional quotient). He doesn’t just coach football players Gabriel Landeskog Jersey Kids , he coaches people.”

Wilks, who gets a four-year contract with a team option for a fifth, described his coaching style as ”very passionate, persistent and very positive.”

And confident.

”I’m going to tell you right now,” Wilks said, looking at Bidwill and general manager Steve Keim, ”you guys made the right decision.”

In a later interview, Wilks said, ”It’s hard to blend in when you’re born to stand tall.”

Bidwill said he heard nothing but good things about Wilks from his former players, many of them unsolicited.

”I know what he brings to the table. I know what they’re getting,” Washington Redskins and ex-Panthers cornerback Josh Norman said in a statement provided by the Cardinals. ”At the end of the day, I came from pretty much nothing to rise up to where I’m at today and he was the catalyst behind that. Position coach all the way up to the ranks of a D-coordinator for a year, and then making it now to a head coaching job; it’s crazy how that trend came for him. The conversations we have are just so enlightening. He’s a leader of men and that’s what it all boils down to.”

Keim was asked what separated Wilks from the other eight candidates interviewed for the job.

”You can become a better coach through experience,” Keim said. ”But to have leadership, to me, there’s an innate part of that. And when you get to know Steve Wilks Jakob Silfverberg Jersey , you can tell that he has that innate leadership skill that very few people have.”

There was nary a mention of Arians at the news conference. Instead, the new coach, who gained the nickname ”Denzel” back in Carolina due to his resemblance to a certain actor, provided a vision for the foundation of the franchise, while acknowledging ”the elephant in the room.”

”This is not a rebuild, this is a retool,” Wilks said. ”I think we have the pieces in place, when you look at both sides of the ball. There’s a question mark right now and we all know it, the elephant in the room. We don’t have a quarterback.”

This in a division that includes Jared Goff, Russell Wilson and Jimmy Garoppolo.

Keim insisted that lack of a quarterback was not a hindrance in the coaching search.

”We looked at it as a positive,” Keim said, ”As Michael and I talked to the candidates, it’s `You really have a blank canvas. You really have an opportunity to be a part of setting us up for the future at that position.”

Asked which was harder, finding a coach or a quarterback, Keim didn’t hesitate. ”A quarterback,” he said.

”We’re going to be aggressive in the process and there’s going to be a number of different options Authentic Saquon Barkley Jersey ,” Keim said, ”whether it’s free agency, whether it’s a trade option or whether it’s the draft, or all three.”

While all of Wilks’ 23-year coaching career (11 college, 12 NFL) are on the defensive side. He will inherit the makings of a strong defense in Arizona, anchored by the likes of NFL sack leader Chandler Jones and perennial Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson.

But the big questions are on offense, and Wilks gave no hint as to who his offensive coordinator will be. He said he wanted his staff in place by the Super Bowl and did not rule out retaining members of the previous one.

He said he’d talked with wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald on the phone but doesn’t know if the star wide receiver will return for a 15th NFL season.

One of Wilks’ biggest smiles came when he talked about the return of running back David Johnson, who was lost for the season when he broke a wrist in the opener.

The Cardinals will, the new coach assured, run the ball.

Wilks’ wife, Marci, two young daughters and an even younger son watched the news conference from the front row then joined him onstage for photos.

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