The New York Mets (13-4) came back to beat the Washington Nationals (9-10) late in the third game of the series with an 11-5 win at Citi FieldThe final score was 11-5 and it helped the Mets move to 13-4.

Pitching

Steven Matz got the ball for the Mets and he had a rough first inning. Matz gave up an infield hit to Howie Kendrick and walked Bryce Harper. Usually walking Harper to pitch to Ryan Zimmerman is a decent strategy given how poorly Zimmerman has been this season, but Matz hung a changeup to Zimmerman. Zimmerman gave the Nationals an early 3-0 lead.

Matz subsequently pitched a clean second, third, and fourth, retiring all the batters he faced in 42 pitches. Matz was at 75 pitches to end the fourth inning, but his spot in the order came up with first and second, one out in the bottom of the inning. Mickey Callaway decided to use his best pinch-hitter in that spot, Brandon Nimmo, and subsequently, took Matz out of the game. Matz’s final line was four innings pitched, three hits, three earned runs, one walk, and six strikeouts.

Paul Sewald relieved Matz and threw three innings like he did on Saturday night. Sewald retired the side in order his first two innings but gave up a run in the seventh inning when Jay Bruce dove for a ball hit by Ryan Zimmerman and missed it. Zimmerman got a triple out of it with no-one out. Zimmerman came home on a sacrifice fly by Moises Sierra. All-in-all, great work by Sewald, who once again bailed out the bullpen.

AJ Ramos came in for the eighth inning and pitched a 1-2-3 inning, which was much better given his outing on Monday night.

Seth Lugo pitched the ninth inning and retired the first two, but gave up a home run to Ryan Zimmerman. Lugo’s stuff was quite impressive in the inning, a nice rebound from Monday night.

Offense

Tanner Roark held the Mets hitless for three innings, but they made a dent in the game during the fourth.

Asdrubal Cabrera doubled and Todd Frazier walked to set up a first and second, one-out spot for Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzalez singled softly to center to bring home Cabrera and Frazier went to third on the play. Jose Lobaton subsequently grounded a weak ground ball to first and Ryan Zimmerman probably should have turned two but he made a lazy throw to second, which took Trea Turner off the bag allowing Frazier to score and both Gonzalez and Lobaton to be safe.

As mentioned above, Callaway used his big pinch-hitter, Brandon Nimmo in this spot. Nimmo did his job and got hit by a pitch while angering Tanner Roark. Unfortunately, Amed Rosario grounded into a double-play with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The Mets had nothing else going against Roark, but fortunately, Roark left the game after the seventh inning and Ryan Madson came in.

In the eighth inning, Michael Conforto led-off the inning with a nice single to left. Yoenis Cespedes followed suit with a single to center. Asdrubal Cabrera then singled to right to load the bases.

Jay Bruce fouled out to Wilmer Difo for the first out though. Suddenly fans were worried about the inning not leading to a tied game. Todd Frazier of decided to answer their prayers. Frazier hit a two-run single to tie the game and both the trail runners advanced to second and third on the throw. The Nationals decided to walk Adrian Gonzalez to bring up Wilmer Flores. Flores, the hero on Sunday and a long time Nationals killer, struck out to leave the inning in the hands of Juan Lagares.

Lagares fouled off some tough pitches and finally got a ball down the first base line for a two-run double.

Sammy Solis came onto pitch to Amed Rosario. Rosario walked to load the bases and bring up Michael Conforto. In a lefty-lefty matchup, Conforto walked on eight pitches and brought up Yoenis Cespedes. The Nationals countered with A.J. Cole and Yoenis Cespedes put the game to bed with a grand slam.

The Mets scored nine runs in the eighth, seven of them coming with two outs.

Tomorrow

Matt Harvey looks to rebound from his last start against the Atlanta Braves in SunTrust Park. The game will start at 7:35 p.m and air on SNY. It can also be heard on WOR 710.