Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets continued their march on the bottom of the National League East with a 7-3 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday.

Following a sweep of the Miami Marlins and winners of their last six, the Mets remained on fire against the not-so-flame retardant Patrick Corbin and the Nationals.

It was almost a foregone conclusion the Mets would exit Monday’s game with a victory with Max Scherzer taking the mound against Corbin. Or one of the best signings in Washington’s history against one of the worst.

Scherzer (7-2, 2.13 ERA) toed the rubber following his best performance as a Met – seven shutout innings against the Yankees. Meanwhile, Corbin had the shortest outing of his career against the Dodgers, failing to make it through the first inning.

The results were mostly the same. Scherzer returned to Nationals Park, tossing 6 and 2/3 innings, striking out five, and allowing two earned runs. Corbin earned his major league-leading 15th loss going 4 1/3 innings, allowing four runs.

Although, the Mets would trail in this game. In the bottom of the first, the Mets had a rare defensive miscue. Josh Bell hit a ball to right field, Starling Marte fired into second but no fielder was on the base, leading to a run scored by Juan Soto.

New York wouldn’t have to wait long to tie and regain a lead. The Mets scored three times in the following half inning. Jeff McNeil singled with two outs to score Pete Alonso, then Tomas Nido singled himself to drive in Mark Canha. Brandon Nimmo kept the lineup moving by beating out an infield ground ball and Starling Marte singled to right field to score McNeil. Nido was out at home for the final out.

Alonso and the Mets weren’t done scoring off of Corbin. In the third, the Mets first baseman hit his 27th home run of the year, a line drive to left center field making it a 4-1 ballgame.

Soto wasn’t done either. With tomorrow’s trade deadline he launched possibly his final home run as a National to bring Washington within two. Following a strikeout of Bell, the Nats singled three straight at-bats to close the gap to one, 4-3.

But that’s the closest the Nationals would come the rest of the evening. The Mets rallied with two outs in the sixth inning. Nimmo doubled on a 3-2 count to force a Washington pitching change.

Steve Cishek entered. Earlier this season he hit Francisco Lindor in the helmet with a pitch. Against his first batter on Monday, he hit Marte in the wrist with two strikes. Marte would remain in the game and Lindor would be forced to hit next.

This time against Cishek, Lindor would do the hitting. He launched his 18th home run of the year into the bullpen in left center field. New York led 7-3.

Scherzer emptied the tank for New York. He came back out for the seventh inning after already throwing 93 pitches. He recorded two outs and finished with 105, flooding the zone with 70 strikes.

It was smooth sailing over the final two innings. Buck Showalter went to Joely Rodriguez, making just his third appearance since the All-Star break. Unlike his prior two, he did not allow a run.

The Mets provided insight into Showalter’s managerial strategy with his new pieces. Once the lefty Corbin was removed, Daniel Vogelbach entered to bat fifth and DH for J.D. Davis.

With the additions of Vogelbach and Tyler Naquin, the Mets entire bench for the game was left-handed. While trades slowed down when games began on Monday evening, expect the Mets to search for a right-handed power bat to add another piece to their bench and possibly starting lineup.

Player Of The Game: Francisco Lindor

Lindor only had one hit in his five at-bats but his one hit was arguably the most important, allowing the Mets to walk to the finish line. Lindor’s August is starting strong after his best month as a Met. In July, Lindor slashed .320/.393/.540 for a .933 OPS across 25 games. He had five home runs and 14 runs batted in.

On Deck

Jacob deGrom is back. The ace is making his 2022 season debut at 7:05 P.M. against the Nationals. The game will be broadcasted on SNY and on the radio at WCBS 880 and WEPN.