WASHINGTON -- Max Scherzer is hard enough to beat under even the most normal of circumstances.

Throw in the fact that Scherzer had an extra day of rest and was pitching at home during afternoon shadows and the last-place team in the National League East was no match for the veteran right-hander.

Scherzer (16-7) allowed two runs and seven hits in eight innings and rookie second baseman Trea Turner went 3-for-4 with three RBIs as the first-place Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves 6-4.

Washington, which arrived in the wee hours Monday morning from New York, won with a makeshift lineup that included normal bench players Chris Heisey (three-run homer), Ben Revere, Clint Robinson, rookie Brian Goodwin and backup catcher Jose Lobaton, who chipped in two hits batting in front of Scherzer. Only Robinson went hitless.

"It is always awesome. That is the special thing about baseball: Anybody can contribute anytime, any day," said Turner, now hitting .343. "Today, thankfully we got the job done as a whole. It was fun to see everybody have success."

Scherzer has won his last four starts and with five strikeouts upped his major league-leading mark to 243. He was originally slated to start Sunday night in New York against the Mets, but he was sent home Sunday in order to get ready for the late-afternoon start against the Braves (54-84), who had won six games in a row.

"You have to find out new ways to get them out," Scherzer said after improving to 3-0 this year against the familiar Braves. "You try to get recognition on certain swings. You try to decipher, 'Hey, what is going on here?' You kind of have that instinct before the game to know what certain guys are going to try and do against you."

Turner had a double in the first, a two-run homer in the third and a run-scoring single in the fourth.

"He is something else," said Brian Snitker, the interim manager for the Braves, of Turner. "He is a very, very special young player. He is making the most of this opportunity, that is for sure. He is tough."

The Nationals (80-57) remained 8 1/2 games ahead of the New York Mets, who won 5-2 earlier Monday in Cincinnati, in the National League East.

The Nationals scored five runs in the third off starter Ryan Weber (1-1), who was making his first start of the year at the major-league level and sixth overall. Weber gave up five runs in three innings before Jed Bradley took over in the fourth.

Turner, batting in the leadoff spot, crushed a two-run homer to left in the third that was hit 108 miles per hour. Later in the inning Heisey, getting a rare start, belted a three-run homer to nearly the same spot to make it 5-1.

"It was up. All he had to do was hit it," Snitker said of the pitch to Heisey.

Atlanta had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI double by Jace Peterson, who also drove in a run with a fielder's choice in the sixth to make it 6-2.

Rookie Koda Glover pitched a scoreless eighth for the Nationals and Mark Melancon worked the ninth in a non-save situation. Melancon allowed an RBI single to Freddie Freeman (two hits) to make it 6-3 and another run scored on a double play to make it 6-4 before the closer retired Anthony Recker on a flyout with a runner on base.

"He can tie this thing real quick," Snitker thought of Recker. "It is tough to get down that far" to Scherzer and the Nationals.

Nick Markakis had three hits and scored twice for the Braves, who are 2-12 against Washington this year.

What convinced Washington manager Dusty Baker to allow Scherzer to throw the seventh?

"Basically two words: I'm good," said Scherzer, who threw 107 pitches. "You know where you are physically. Even at 98 pitches I was still strong. I knew I was good to go out for the seventh. The only thing that would change my mind if it was a long inning (but) it was a quick sixth inning" for Washington at the plate.

NOTES: Atlanta CF Ender Inciarte had a single in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 16 games, the longest active streak in the majors. He also singled to lead off the ninth. ... Washington LHP Gio Gonzalez (10-9, 4.14 ERA) will start Tuesday against Atlanta RHP Williams Perez (2-2, 4.62). ... Braves LHP Ian Krol pitched for the Nationals in 2013 as he made 32 appearances in his rookie season. ... Atlanta INF Brandon Snyder was a first-round draft pick by the Baltimore Orioles in 2005 out of Westfield High in Chantilly, Va., about 35 miles from Nationals Park. ... Washington, after Monday's game, had played the fewest home games of any National League team and will play 16 of its last 25 at home. ... After playing Sunday night in New York against the Mets, Washington manager Dusty Baker said he got home about 4 a.m. Monday.