MIAMI _ They were cast in two starring roles for the Marlins, and paid accordingly.
Wei-Yin Chen was the Opening Day starter after being signed for $80 million (five years) to join with Jose Fernandez at the top of the rotation. Giancarlo Stanton, the $325 million right fielder (second of 13 years) is always Miami's biggest threat with a bat in hand.
Inexplicably, neither performed to their career arc through a significant portion of this season. Then they got hurt.
Chen and Stanton returned in time to lend a hand to a late-season push that has slipped to more prayer than realistic hope.
Monday's 4-3 victory against the Nationals gave a glimpse at how that pursuit may have been more attainable had the pair performed to expectations.
While their efforts were notable, it took five relievers contributing 4 2/3 scoreless innings to secure a victory that lifted Miami back to .500 with 12 games remaining.
Chen, returning from an elbow strain in his first start since July 20, was working on the sort of efficient outing that marked his four seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. The left-hander faced the minimum through 4 1/3 innings before back-to-back singles set the stage for a three-run homer by Danny Espinosa that wiped out a 2-0 Miami lead and ended Chen's night.
Stanton, in his second start since severely straining his left groin, had accounted for the first Miami run with a mammoth home run that scattered patrons at the Budweiser bar on the concourse beyond left field. He later sparked the decisive two-run sixth with a leadoff walk.
Until the fifth inning blew up quickly, Chen showed none of the rustiness expected of a pitcher who hadn't started in two months. He didn't issue a walk, and kept hitters out of sync by mixing his low-90s fastball with a well-placed assortment of off-speed pitches.
That had been his formula for success in Baltimore, but the long ball has been his undoing this season. It bit him again when he left a knee-high fastball over the plate to Espinosa, whose drive to left just cleared the wall into the visitors' bullpen.
"You don't quite know what to expect when a guy's been on the DL for a lengthy period of time," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Chen before the game. "A complete game would probably be five innings out of Wei-Yin."
Chen began with an efficient 1-2-3 first inning on 11 pitches (eight strikes), including getting Trea Turner and Jayson Werth swinging on fastballs in the low 90s.
He needed only five pitches to get through the second despite giving up a leadoff hit to Wilson Ramos, as Ryan Zimmerman helped the cause by quickly bouncing into a double play. He didn't allow another hit until Zimmerman's sharp single to center started the uprising in the fifth.
"The first year in general has been a rough year," Mattingly said of Chen, while pointing out, "He's a guy that works really hard. He's had some really good games and some games not as good. But obviously the health [issue] is something nobody wanted to see.
"I think it would be nice for him to establish his health and for us to go into the offseason feeling good looking at our rotation and what we have to do."
The situation with Chen and Stanton has sort of a spring training feel of players coming off injuries. Yet the Marlins are still seeking some late-inning magic as they began the night five games out in the wild-card chase.
Mattingly said that he had to weigh having Stanton's bat in the lineup against the possibility that his lack of mobility could be a drawback in the field or on the bases.
Stanton looked fine jogging around the bases after his 26th homer of the season and first since Aug. 13, the game in which he suffered a Grade 3 groin strain on the final play when he was out trying to stretch a single.
Stanton has been struggling _ even before the injury _ with sliders breaking out of the zone. But A.J. Cole hung one over the plate on a 3-2 count, and Stanton clubbed it 448 feet to left, over the Bud bar.
He stranded two runners in scoring position with an inning-ending groundout in the third, then led off the sixth with a walk before leaving for a pinch runner.
Yefri Perez would score on Derek Dietrich's pinch-hit double, which tied it at 3 and took Chen off the hook. The Marlins took the lead when Justin Bour scored on Ichiro Suzuki's grounder to the right side.
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