The Marlins have been “riding the wave” all season with a laser-like focus on reaching the playoffs. They continued to drift toward playing in October, but their ride got a little bumpy in Game 2 of Sunday’s seven-inning doubleheader.

Trea Turner belted a leadoff homer, and Kurt Suzuki, Michael A. Taylor, Asdrúbal Cabrera and Victor Robles also went deep to power the Nationals to a 15-0 rout at Marlins Park.

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The high-scoring outburst came after the Marlins held on for a 2-1 victory in Game 1, which gave them the five-game series victory, 3-2.

With the loss, the Marlins (28-25) wrapped up an exhausting homestand, having played 15 games in 11 days, a stretch that included four twin bills.

“I like the fact that we're done with the doubleheaders,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I feel like we survived this homestand. ... We knew it was going to test us. We kind of survived that, and look forward to playing one a day and getting prepared for those guys. I'm voting now for the seven-inning doubleheaders.”

After dusting off the Game 2 rout, the Marlins still went 9-6 in their final homestand. Now, with seven games remaining, they hold a one-game lead over the Phillies (27-26) for second place in the National League East. The top two teams in each division automatically qualify for the playoffs, plus the two teams with the next-best records as Wild Card teams.

Miami is three games behind the first-place Braves, with a four-game series set to begin on Monday at Atlanta.

The Marlins are one of the surprise teams in this unprecedented 60-game shortened season. They’ve accelerated their building process after back-to-back last-place finishes in the division and a 57-105 record in 2019.

Now, they control their destiny.

“You know it's going to be like this,” Mattingly said of the stretch run. “Where every game you've got to grind. Every game you've got to battle. You've got to keep putting games behind you, good or bad.”

Game 2 is one the Marlins are eager to flush away.

Nationals left-hander Ben Braymer held the Marlins hitless until Jesús Aguilar’s single in the fourth inning. The only other hit Miami had was a double in the seventh inning by Starling Marte.

In short order, it was a long day but a short outing for Miami rookie Braxton Garrett, who was added as its 29th man for the doubleheader. Making his second big league start, Garrett lasted 2 2/3 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits and three walks.

Both of Garrett’s starts came during this extended homestand and were parts of doubleheaders. On Sept. 13, he allowed just one earned run over five innings in a win over the Phillies.

The Marlins used 18 pitchers to cover all the innings of the 15 games in 11 days, including seven starters.

Sandy Alcantara, who won Game 1 on Sunday, made three starts and had a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings in the homestand. Pablo López went 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in 12 1/3 innings and rookie sensation Sixto Sánchez was 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA in his two starts.

Reliever Yimi García picked up three wins with a 1.93 ERA in 4 2/3 innings in the stretch.

Washington wasted no time going on the attack against Garrett on Sunday. Turner jumped on the left-hander’s first pitch, crushing a leadoff homer to left. Statcast projected the distance at 412 feet with an exit velocity of 105.7 mph.

When the homestand started Sept. 10, the Marlins were 19-19 and 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies. So Miami gained ground and still has a chance to catch the Braves for the NL East title.

“We should enjoy this,” Mattingly said. “This is the best type of baseball to be playing. It wasn't fun the second game here, but this is still the best type of baseball.”