WASHINGTON -- A day after meeting behind closed doors, the Washington Nationals blew the doors off.

In the opener of a four-game series at home, the Nationals rebounded from an early 9-0 deficit to beat the Miami Marlins 14-12. The big win, which is tied for the largest comeback in franchise history, came a day after a players-only meeting that followed a shutout loss to the Boston Red Sox, Washington's fifth straight defeat and 18th in 24 contests.

Early on it appeared as if the Nats, who fell under .500 after being swept by Boston, were headed for yet another loss.

Anthony Rendon, who entered play Thursday with the fewest errors of any third baseman in the majors, booted a two-out grounder in the first inning that put the Marlins on the board. An inning later, Miami blitzed starter Jeremy Hellickson for six more runs, including a three-run homer by Martin Prado. In the fourth, Justin Bour's two-run blast off Hellickson gave the Marlins a 9-0 cushion, which led to a chorus of boos from the hometown fans, one of several jeers that rained down early from the crowd of 24,000-plus.

That's when the Nationals kicked off their colossal comeback.

Leadoff hitter Trea Turner started the turnaround with a solo shot off Miami starter Pablo Lopez in the bottom of the fourth. In the fifth, a two-run double by rookie Juan Soto helped Washington score four more times off Lopez to make it 9-5.

Then in the sixth, the Nats took the lead by plating five runs against a trio of Marlins relievers. The last four of those runs came on Turner's first grand slam.

"That was a special inning," said reliever Shawn Kelley, who worked a scoreless top of the sixth to earn the win. "Hopefully, that's something we look back on in a month or two from now, or four, five months from now, and be like, man, that changed the course of the season."

In the seventh, after Kelley departed, Washington mounted one more rally that produced another four runs and featured a two-run single by Turner. Even though Nats reliever Kelvin Herrera gave up a three-run homer to Brian Anderson in the eighth inning that made it 14-12, Washington held on as closer Sean Doolittle pitched a scoreless ninth for his 22nd save.

The victory matched the largest comeback in Nationals/Expos franchise history. On May 16, 1997, the Montreal Expos overcame a nine-run deficit and won 14-13 over the San Francisco Giants. Washington's victory over Miami on Thursday marked the first time in over two years that a team came back from nine or more runs. The last time came on June 2, 2016, when the Seattle Mariners beat the San Diego Padres 16-13.

"When we were down 7-0, I felt like we still for sure had a shot; 9-0 hurts a little bit more, but we did it," Turner said. "I think once we got that first run on the board, it kind of got the momentum on our side and continued to push, and I think that's what we're capable of."

Turner finished the game 3-for-5 and drove in eight runs. According to ESPN Stats & Information, it was only the sixth time since RBIs became an official stat in 1920 that a leadoff hitter drove in at least eight runs in one game.

Turner, 25, also became the second shortstop this season to tally at least eight RBIs in a game, joining Didi Gregorius of the New York Yankees. Fellow infielder Matt Adams also played a key role in the comeback.

Making his return after missing three weeks because of a broken finger, Adams went 4-for-5 with a double and three runs. He had a hit and scored a run in each of Washington's rallies in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. The second of those runs came on Turner's go-ahead grand slam.

"I was trying to jump to the moon, but I didn't get really high up," Adams said of Turner's huge hit. "A guy like that, a leadoff guy that has a spark to set the tone, he's been swinging the bat well lately. So for him to come up big in those situations is huge."

With the roller-coaster win, Washington climbed back to .500 and moved to within six games of the first- place Atlanta Braves in the NL East. Although it was only their seventh win in the past 25 games, the Nats are now a perfect 1-0 since their players-only meeting.

"One of the things we talked about yesterday as a group is, we've won the division with a large lead a lot of years and maybe been a little flat in the playoffs," Kelley said. "Let's have some fun and try it this way. And I think tonight's game was kind of a small sample of that -- hey, we need to come back and win a game here, even as lopsided as it is.

"I think sometimes momentum can kind of ignite a team and fans and hopefully some media people. And we can all high-five and hopefully take care of business the rest of the series and get things back on track."