JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton homered twice, including a drive high off the hitters’ background screen in center field, to help the Miami Marlins defeat the Washington Nationals 8-5 Tuesday.
Bryce Harper singled in each of his first two times up to extend his streak of consecutive at-nats with hits to nine, He walked in the fifth, then left the game.
Harper is hitting .476 (30 for 63) with three homers and 14 RBIs.
Stanton’s homers, his first since Feb. 26, gave him three in the exhibition season. They were his first since returning from the World Baseball Classic.
Chris Valaika and Chris Coghlan also homered for the Marlins.
Roger Bernadina homered for the Nationals, who scored three unearned runs with the help of two errors..
Dan Haren alllowed five runs and seven hits — including four home runs — in six innings. Henderson Alvarez gave up four runs — one earned — and five hits in five innings.
