MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins have gotten contributions from a number of players during their recent surge. On Tuesday night, their two All-Stars led them. Henderson Alvarez pitched seven scoreless innings, Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs and the surging Marlins beat Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals 3-0 for their sixth straight win. Christian Yelich also drove in a run for the Marlins, who have won nine of their last 10. "Guys are excited, theres a lot of confidence," manager Mike Redmond said. Steve Cishek loaded the bases in the ninth before striking out Anthony Rendon to record his 27th save in 30 chances. At 53-53, the Marlins have climbed back to the .500 mark for the first time since June 25 when they were 39-39. They trail the Nationals by five games in the NL East. "Theyve got the ability to roll off like theyre rolling right now," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. Strasburg (7-9) allowed one run and four hits in seven innings after allowing four runs in each of his last two starts. Alvarez (8-5), who issued a season-high four walks, got out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the second inning. He got help from third baseman Casey McGehee, who made a diving catch to rob Nate McLouth from extra bases for the second out in the inning. "When youre winning ballgames, guys are making big plays," Redmond said. The Marlins got to Strasburg in the sixth when Stanton doubled to left to score a run. Stanton came into the game hitless in his last nine at-bats, striking out eight times. "I havent felt good for a while now," Stanton said. "I did a little different set in pregame, so hopefully Im feeling better and more comfortable at the plate and today was a good plus." Yelich hit an RBI double in the eighth to give Miami a 2-0 lead and Stanton drove him in two batters later. Miamis Jeff Baker had his career-best 11-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-3 night. Bryce Harper had two of the Nationals five hits. TRAINERS ROOM There is still no timetable for Nationals star Ryan Zimmerman, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 23 with a pulled hamstring. "The first two weeks are key," Williams said. "So once it gets healed, it starts to mat down a little bit and then you can start doing some strengthening exercises and then you get a better idea of where he would be." Also, plate umpire D.J. Reyburn took a pitch off his right wrist in the top of the seventh inning, delaying the game for nearly five minutes. In the ninth, Reyburn was struck in the right knee and play was momentarily halted. "He reminded me of myself back in the day getting smoked by foul tips, that was rough," Redmond said. "Thats one of those nights where you just sit back and pull out a Bud Light and enjoy it." ON DECK Tanner Roark (10-6, 2.82) will start for the Nationals in Wednesdays series finale against Brad Hand (2-2, 4.19). Roark has allowed one run in seven innings in each of his three previous starts with a 3-0 record. Hand is coming off his best outing of the season, pitching 7 1-3 scoreless innings at Houston on July 25. POSTGAME MOVE The Marlins optioned outfielder Jake Marisnick to Triple-A New Orleans and plan to call up infielder Ed Lucas in a corresponding move. Lucas has hit .239 with one home run and seven RBIs in 50 games for the Marlins. DEAL TIME Both teams could be looking to make moves before Thursdays non-waiver trade deadline. "Any help we can get to make us better is always good," Stanton said. "You never what its going to be or if theres going to be one, but any additions will help." Wholesale NMD . 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Adidas NMD Human Race Sale ., climbed from seventh to fifth spot in womens competition Sunday at the ISU world junior figure skating championships.TORONTO -- In the immediate moments after the Raptors 101-87 victory over Detroit on Wednesday, Toronto coach Dwane Casey sat down to watch the dying minutes of the Miami-Brooklyn game. Amir Johnson checked the result on his phone. With 20 games left on a thrilling season that sees Toronto poised for a playoff position for the first time in six years, the Raptors are excited, and thinking about little else. "Hell, yeah. Without a doubt, man," DeMar DeRozan said. "Thats why I work so hard, and it always bugged me going home early, and just sitting there doing nothing. It used to make me so hungry just watching." DeRozan poured in 25 points, while Johnson scored 20 and grabbed nine rebounds in a game that was no thriller but served its purpose -- one step closer to the teams second Atlantic Division title and its first playoff berth since 2008. The Nets, who edged Miami 96-95 on Wednesday, are three games behind Toronto for the division title. "Ive got a lot of friends that play in the playoffs and I had to hear all summer them talking about their experience in the playoffs. It always pushed me even further," DeRozan said. "You just want to get there. Not even for myself, just for this organization as well. It definitely feels good that were moving in the right direction now." Kyle Lowry had 19 points and six assists, while Jonas Valanciunas had 13 rebounds to go with eight points for the Raptors (36-27), whove won 10 of their last 13 games. The affair wasnt pretty. The Raptors coughed up double-digit leads a couple of times -- including an 18-point third-quarter advantage that the Pistons whittled down to just five -- in a game they could have put out of reach far earlier. The Raptors went into the fourth quarter with a narrow 74-69 lead in front of the 18,247 fans at the Air Canada Centre that braved the rare March snowstorm. They scored the first nine points of the fourth to go up by 14. A wide-open three by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 8:23 to go cut the Raptors lead to nine points, but that was as close as the struggling Pistons would come. Brandon Jennings topped Detroit (25-40) with 24 points, while Andre Drummond had 16 points and nine rebounds and Greg Monroe had 13 points to go with 10 boards. Ugly or not, the Raptors were happy to tick off another win. "Absolutely. Im ready," Johnson said, when asked if hes thinking post-season. "Were going to win as many games as we possibly can going down the home stretch, collect these wins." Casey said hes happy his players are enjoying their success, but warns that theyve got to focus on themselves down the stretch. "It is fun. But weve got to take care of our business. We can watch (what other teams are doing), but if we dont take care of our business, its not worth crap," the coach said.dddddddddddd "Im more concerned with what we do, and how were playing, . . .and losing leads, moreso than anything else. "I hope (the Raptors) are enjoying it but still understand how hard it is, getting there first, and then after you get there, its even harder." DeRozan, whos in his fifth season in Toronto thus has never stepped on the court for a playoff game, said he has always forced himself to watch the post-season, regardless of how frustrating it was. "I had to, just to understand and see how it was," he said. "Youre playing the same team possibly seven times in a row. Seeing the different schemes. Just trying to get a knowledge of how its played every single day." He said hes particularly thrilled to be sharing this seasons success with Johnson, who last made the playoffs with Detroit in 2009. "Thats my dog, man. Its definitely cool," DeRozan said. "I knew Amir, and Amir knew me when I was running around with the same pair of dirty shoes on, playing basketball. Amir is a helluva dude, how hard he works, and how good of a person he is." Johnson was key Wednesday night in containing Detroits frontcourt -- what Casey had predicted would be a "huge test" for Toronto. The Pistons lead the league in points in the paint and offensive rebounds, thanks largely to Drummond. The Raptors were effective inside, outrebounding Detroit 54-39 and outscoring their visitors in the paint 44-38. Casey wasnt thrilled with the second unit, saying it was "playing in mud a little bit." "We needed to keep the pace going, I thought the pace slowed down," he said. "For whatever reason we got stagnant and lost a couple of leads and thats something we have to work on." The Raptors raced out to a nine-point lead four minutes into the game, stretching it to 14 on a pullup jumper by John Salmons before ending the first quarter up 29-21. The Raptors went almost five minutes without a point to open the second, and Bynum drained a three with 8:37 left in the half to tie the game 29-29. The Raptors managed to cobble together another 10-point lead and took a 52-45 advantage into the dressing room at halftime. A three-pointer by Lowry stretched Torontos lead to 18 points just four-and-a-half minutes into the third but the Raptors couldnt maintain it. The Pistons ended the quarter on a 14-2 run to send the game into the fourth with Toronto leading 74-69. NOTES: Patrick Patterson missed his third straight game with an elbow injury. . . The game was the first of three straight at home. The Raptors host the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday and the Phoenix Suns on Sunday before playing a pair on the road at Atlanta and New Orleans. . . The Raptors have won four of their last five against the Pistons. ' ' '