Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets beat the Nationals for the second game in a row, winning Game 1 of Thursday’s doubleheader 4-1 at Citi Field.

Brandon Nimmo knocked in all of the runs during the game. He got the Mets on the board with a three-run homer in the second inning. He knocked in another two innings later on a single.

Though those four runs were all the Mets would score, they had plenty of opportunities for more. They had at least two hits in each of the first five innings, but they left seven men on base. The only two hits with men in scoring position were Nimmo’s two. (They had seven other at-bats with RISP where they didn’t get a hit.)

But four runs was enough the way the pitching handled the Nationals’ lineup in Game 1.

Marcus Stroman breezed through the first five innings, allowing just one hit and a walk while striking out seven. But the righty ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing the first three batters to reach base, apexing with a Victor Robles double that scored Riley Adams. Stroman struck out Alcides Escobar next, but after 85 pitches on a 90-degree day, Luis Rojas opted for Aaron Loup to face Juan Soto.

Soto put up a good at-bat on Loup. He worked an 0-2 count to full and walked on the ninth pitch to load the bases. Loup was able to garner weak contact from Josh Bell next, though, and the first baseman bounced into a double play for the 15th time this season. Pete Alonso applied a nice tag to complete the play.

Loup, who’s been the Mets’ best reliever this year, still hasn’t allowed an earned run in the second half (9.2 innings), and he lowered his season ERA to 1.19 across 37 2/3 innings.

Edwin Diaz followed the lefty and closed out the game for a second straight day, notching his 25th save of the year.

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

With the win, Marcus Stroman (8-11, 2.79 ERA) earned the first win for a Mets starter since July 23, when Tylor Megill got his first career win. Stroman also won a game the day before that.

The two teams will play Game 2 of the doubleheader starting around 3:30 p.m. The Mets will be going for a sweep of the Nationals, and a win, along with a Phillies loss to the Dodgers Thursday afternoon, would put the Mets back in first place for the moment.

Trevor Williams, who the team got in the Javier Báez trade, will start for the Mets. He has a 5.06 ERA in 58.2 innings in the majors this season, but he’s allowed just three runs in 12 innings in his last two starts for Triple-A Syracuse.

Erick Fedde will get the start for the Nationals. He has a similar ERA as Williams this season (5.15), but he’s also allowed just three runs in 12 innings in two starts against the Mets this season, including seven shutout innings back in June.