Nationals get two pinch hit homers, Bryce Harper bomb, beat Marlins, 5-3

Bryce Harper took Miami Marlins' reliever Kyle Barraclough deep for a two-run blast in the seventh that put Washington up 4-2, but before he put the Nationals ahead, pinch hitter Stephen Drew hit a two-run home that tied the game at 2-2.

It was Drew's second home run of the season, his first as a pinch hitter this season and the Nats' fifth pinch hit home run of the year, the second-highest total in the majors.

After the Marlins pulled within one in the eighth at 4-3, Chris Heisey hit the Nationals' sixth pinch hit home run, behind only the St. Louis Cardinals' seven pinch hit blasts.

Nats' skipper Dusty Baker talked after the Nationals' 5-3 win over the Fish about the important contributions from the bench bats this season.

"It's especially nice when they hit home runs," Baker said.

"The [Drew] home run tied the game and then the home run by Heisey gave us an insurance run. That was big. It's to my understanding, I was told... that's the first time we've had two pinch hit home runs in the same game."

It was. According to @NationalsPR on the Twitter, it was the first time in Nationals' franchise history (2005-present) that the Nats got two pinch hit homers in one game.

"Your bench is so very important," Baker continued. "You want some production off your guys on the bench and that's why you try to give them a few at bats and some action so that they feel more comfortable.

"These guys, they work hard and they hit a lot and they have a lot of pride coming off the bench and they're proud of what they're doing as a unit and that's so very important that they feel good about themselves and the guys on the team feel good about them."

Baker talked about about how Drew, in particular, is adjusting to his bench role after starting for most of his career before this season.

"He's been a very positive force, even when he's not doing what he would like to do. The thing about it is, these are the guys that you want coming off the bench. You want the guys that have played regular at some point in time so those 0 for 1s -- I've seen what it does to a young player, 0 for 1, they take it the whole week like they're 0 for 10 or more. And they know that if they keep plugging away, and I try to match them up with guys that I think they're most likely to have some success against and we were fortunate enough that it worked today."

Harper, who hasn't seen much to hit recently, walked in his first two at bats against Marlins' starter Tom Koehler, but singled to center when he got something he could handle in his third at bat.

When he stepped in against Barraclough in the seventh, with a runner on after Anthony Rendon walked, Harper worked the count full and hit a hanging slider out to right for his eleventh home run of the season.

"He's had some pitches to hit," Baker said, in discussion opposing team's willingness to avoid letting Harper beat them, "but he's fouled off quite a few pitches, which he usually doesn't do, so this is still a learning period for him, but I didn't see any real worry or concern because he knows that he can do it. And we know he can do it and I think the fans and you guys and everybody knows what Bryce can do."

We talked about the pinch hit homers, Harper's patience and Gio Gonzalez's start vs the Marlins on Nats Nightly after last night's game: