Max Scherzer recorded his 300th strikeout of the season while earning his 18th win, and Anthony Rendon drove in four runs as the host Washington Nationals defeated the Miami Marlins 9-4 on Tuesday night.

Washington (80-78), out of playoff contention after winning the National League East in three of the past four years, has a modest two-game win streak. Miami (62-95) has the worst record in the NL.

Bidding for his fourth Cy Young Award, Scherzer (18-7) allowed five hits, no walks and one run, striking out 10 in seven innings. He punched out rookie Austin Dean swinging in the seventh inning for No. 300. Only 16 other pitchers have accomplished the feat since 1900, and it was Scherzer's final strikeout of the night.

Rendon went 3-for-3 with a three-run homer and an RBI double, improving his batting average to .312, extending his hit streak to 11 games and his on-base streak to 33 games. During his hitting streak, Rendon is batting .500 (21-for-42) with five homers and 20 RBIs.

Washington center fielder Bryce Harper went 1-for-1 with three walks, and he also scored his 100th run of the season. He is the only NL player with at least 100 walks, 100 runs and 100 RBIs.

Miami rookie Jeff Brigham (0-4), making just his fourth major league start, took the loss. He allowed four hits, four walks and three runs in four innings. He struck out two.

Washington opened the scoring with three runs in the first. Adam Eaton and Harper walked, and Rendon homered to left on a 1-1 fastball from Brigham.

Miami cut its deficit to 3-1 in the fourth. Miguel Rojas stroked a leadoff single and scored from first on Brian Anderson's two-out double.

Washington scored six times in the seventh, getting Rendon's RBI double, a two-run single from Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Wieters' RBI single and Eaton's two-run single.

Miami's Peter O'Brien hit a two-run homer in the eighth, and teammate Christopher Bostick added an RBI single in the ninth. O'Brien, who joined the Marlins on Sept. 4, has four homers and nine RBIs in his past 13 games.

--Field Level Media