Dillon Gee rebounded from from a poor start to give the Mets six solid innings in a 5-1 win over the Washington Nationals today at Citi Field.
Gee has always had success against the Nats and had a 2.70 ERA in eight starts against them going into today. The right-hander had his changeup working and spotted his pitches well, holding the Nationals to one run on six hits and three walks while striking out four. He got in some trouble in the fifth and sixth innings, but each time he induced a doubleplay to avoid any damage. Gee improves to 6-7 and lowers his ERA to 4.60 for the season.
Carlos Torres would follow Gee up with two scoreless innings out of the pen, while LaTroy Hawkins finished it off with a clean ninth.
The Mets got on the board in the fourth when John Buck singled home Marlon Byrd who had reached on an error by Ryan Zimmerman. Some more shoddy defense by the Nats would lead to another pair of runs in the fifth. After Daniel Murphy singled and reached second on a groundout, Byrd hit a routine grounder to Zimmerman who committed his second error allowing Murphy to score the go-ahead run. A sac fly by Kirk Nieuwenhuis scored Byrd to put the Mets up 3-1. Two more Mets runs came home in the sixth after an Eric Young sacrifice fly and a clutch RBI-single by Byrd.
Daniel Murphy had three hits including a triple and a run scored, and Omar Quintanilla ended his 0-for-16 slide with a pair of hits and a run scored.
Josh Satin turned three double-plays in the game including two that he initiated. He’s looked good at the plate and in the field.
Tomorrow, Zack Wheeler (1-0, 3.18) will make his Citi Field debut against Gio Gonzalez (4-3, 3.31) at 1:10 PM. It should be a good one… Lets Go Mets…
