The New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals by a score of 5-3 on Monday night at Citi Field (Box Score).
After getting swept down in Miami by the Marlins over the weekend, the Mets returned home to face the Nats. Entering the game tonight, the team sat at five games under .500 and 6.5 out of first place.
Manager Mickey Callaway‘s job security has been called into question over the past several days, which led general manager Brodie Van Wagenen to assure he’s still “their guy” moving forward in a pregame press conference.
Along with their recent five game losing streak, things did not get better when they returned home. The team announced outfielder Yoenis Cespedes fractured his ankle on his ranch, as a result of a “violent fall.” The club also placed setup man Seth Lugo on the I.L with shoulder tendinitis.
Despite all the drama surrounding the Mets in the past week, the team rallied on Monday night to get a much needed bounce back win.
Pitching
Coming off a rough outing last week in D.C, Wilmer Font got a chance to redeem himself against the Nats in his third start of the season.
Font ran into trouble in a 30 pitch first inning giving up a leadoff double to Trea Turner and walk to Anthony Rendon. Luckily the pitcher came back to get Juan Soto to fly out and Howie Kendrick to strikeout to escape the jam unscathed.
The right-hander would then breeze through the next two innings recording a strikeout and double play, while only facing six batters.
Font’s final inning came in the top of the fourth, where he was taken deep to leadoff the frame by Met killer Anthony Rendon to put the Nats on the board. After getting the next two batters to line and ground out, Font issued back-to-back walks to Gerardo Parra and Victor Robles.
Next up, Yan Gomes drove in the Nationals second run of the game on an RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-2. Font was then able to stop the bleeding, as he got Corbin to ground out to first to end the inning.
Font went four innings allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out three batters and walking four. He also picked up his first major league hit on a ground ball single to right field in the third inning.
Long reliever Drew Gagnon came on to start the fifth inning in relief of Font. Gagnon continued to impress striking out two batters in two scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
Jeurys Familia worked around a lead off single in the seventh inning to pitch a scoreless half that ended on a double play groundout by Trea Turner. Callaway let Familia start the eighth inning, which saw the right-hander strikeout Eaton to begin the frame.
Familia was pulled after surrendering a one out double to Rendon. Lefty Daniel Zamora then came in for Familia to try and get a king sized out against left-handed batter Juan Soto. Soto ultimately beat Zamora on an RBI blooper to center to chip away at the Met lead 4-3.
After Zamora failed to get the lefty, R0bert Gsellman relieved him to face Howie Kendrick. Kendrick lined a shot to left field, but right at Brandon Nimmo for the second out. Gsellman then got Parra to softly ground out to Alonso at first to hold the one run lead and get out of the eighth.
Closer Edwin Diaz was called upon to get the save in the ninth and made things interesting to say the least. Diaz plunked Robles to lead off the inning and then surrendered a bloop hit to Yan Gomes, which fell in just over McNeil’s head at second.
Kurt Suzuki came up next swinging for the go-ahead home run, but flew out to Nimmo in deep left field. The theatrics continued after Trea Turner grounded out to Smith at first, who threw over to Rosario at second for the first out, but the shortstop oddly did not attempt to throw to first to complete the double play.
With two outs and runners on first and third, Diaz got Eaton to fly out to Nimmo in left to record his 11th save of the season and snap the Mets five game losing streak. Drew Gagnon was rewarded his second win of the season, after pitching two shut out innings in the fifth and sixth.
Offense
It was a different story for the offense tonight, who entered Monday night’s game without scoring a run in 19 innings. Met batters scratched across four runs on six hits against Nats lefty Patrick Corbin, who has previously stifled them in two starts this season.
Shortstop Amed Rosario got things going early out of the two hole in the first inning, as he sent a solo shot to dead center field, which gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Although the scoreless streak was snapped to open up the game, the Mets weren’t done in the frame.
Two batters later Pete Alonso crushed his 15th home run of the season to extend the lead to 2-0. Alonso’s homer tied a pre-All Star break franchise rookie record.
In the bottom of the third, Amed Rosario got things started again with a lead off walk. After Corbin retired J.D Davis and Alonso, he would then walk Wilson Ramos to put runners on first and second with two outs.
Next up, Todd Frazier snuck one through the hole up the middle to drive in the third run of the game, but the scoring wasn’t done there. Carlos Gomez followed up with an RBI double to left center to make the score 4-0, which was his first hit as a Met since 2007.
Corbin went five innings allowing four runs on six hits, while striking out seven and walking three. He also gave up two homer on the night.
Despite being benched tonight for not hustling over the weekend, Robinson Cano pinch hit with two outs in the sixth and launched a double to right center field off of Nats reliever Tanner Rainey. Unfortunately, Rainey came back to induce a Jeff McNeil groundout to end the threat.
In the bottom of the eighth, Carlos Gomez worked a one out walk off of reliever Joe Ross. Gomez moved over to second base on a botched pickoff attempt by Ross. Juan Lagares then grounded out to the right side to advance Gomez to third with two outs.
Davey Martinez opted to bring in lefty Tony Sipp to face pinch hitter Dominic Smith. Smith came through on the first pitch with a line drive RBI single to center field, which gave the Mets a huge insurance run and 5-3 lead.
The Mets offense finally woke up on Monday night scoring a total of five runs on eight hits, while slugging two homers.
Top Performers: Frazier 2-for-4 with one RBI, Rosario 1-for-3 with a home run (4), two runs scored, a walk, and an RBI, Alonso 1-for-3 with a home run (15), a run scored, and an RBI, Gomez 1-for-3, double, RBI, walk, and a run scored.
On Deck
On Tuesday, Zack Wheeler looks to start a new winning streak for the Mets against right-hander Erick Fedde and the Nationals. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. E.T. and the game will be televised on SNY.
