The New York Mets (71-66) defeated the Washington Nationals (79-57) by a score of 5-1 at Citi Field Sunday evening. With a Cardinals win, the Mets will remain within one game of the second wild card spot with both the Cardinals and Pirates going head to head starting tomorrow.
Pitching:
Seth Lugo was on the mound for the Mets tonight and this was easily his most impressive start yet. Seth Lugo gave the Mets exactly what they needed once again tonight and was truly incredible overall. Lugo went seven innings giving up one run while walking none and striking out four.
In the top of the second inning, Lugo gave up a solo home run to Danny Espinosa but that would be all the Nationals could muster off Lugo tonight over seven fantastic innings. Lugo seemed to gain confidence and velocity as the game went on, topping out at 97 MPH late in the game. Wow.
Addison Reed came on in the top of the eighth and pitched yet another scoreless inning.
Jeurys Familia came on in the ninth in a no-save situation and shut the Nationals down to preserve the win.
Offense:
In the bottom of the first inning, Jose Reyes lead the Mets off with a walk to get things started. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a single to right field to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After a wild pitch moved both runners over, Yoenis Cespedes struck out to record the first out of the inning. Curtis Granderson, who has been seeing the ball much better lately, hit a clutch sacrifice fly to bring home Reyes and give the Mets the early 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, Curtis Granderson wasn’t done yet. With two out, Yoenis Cespedes was able to single on a soft fly ball to put a runner on base for Curtis. Granderson followed by jacking his 23rd home run of the year off the second deck wall in right field to put the Mets up 3-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning with one out, Wilmer Flores singled to get things going for the Mets. Jay Bruce followed by crushing his 29th home run of the season over the left-center field wall to put the Mets up 5-1.
Notes:
Seth Lugo in four starts with the Mets now has a 2.19 ERA.
Wilmer Flores was 2 for 4 tonight with both hits coming off a righty.
Jay Bruce was 2 for 4 tonight with a home run and two RBIs. Could Bruce becoming out of his slump?
JZ Player of the game: Seth Lugo. There isn’t even a question tonight. What a performance.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their first game of a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park tomorrow afternoon in what was some terrible scheduling by MLB. The game has a start time of 1:10 PM. Bartolo Colon (12-7, 3.35 ERA), will look to keep the Mets rolling against Robert Stephenson (2-0, 3.00 ERA) in a Labor day matinee.
