Mets Improve to 3-0 With First Shutout Victory of the Season

The New York Mets shutout the Washington Nationals by a score of 5-0 at Nationals Park in Washington on Saturday night. With one mighty swing of the bat, Pete Alonso provided all the offense needed with his first career grand slam. Chris Bassitt was brilliant in his first start as a Met going six innings allowing only three hits, one walk, no runs while striking out eight.

Bassitt and Nationals’ pitcher Joan Adon each put up zeros the first four innings. The Mets put together minor threats throughout the first few innings but were stymied by sparkling defense. This included one for the highlight reel by Victor Robles off the bat of Brandon Nimmo. Meanwhile, Bassitt kept the Nationals’ bats bewildered with a variety of pitches and speeds, including curveballs that dipped into the 70 MPH range.

In the top of the fifth, however, Adon was plagued by control issues. After a lead-off single by James McCann, Nimmo walked. Francisco Lindor then worked another walk with one out to load the bases. Alonso took care of the rest with homer to left on a 2-1 pitch closing the book on Adon.

The Mets were able to tack on an insurance run in the top of the ninth. Nimmo hit a sharp grounder that ricocheted its way through the Nationals’ shift on the right side as Maikel Franco was unable to make the difficult play. Nimmo’s patented hustle was rewarded with a seeing eye double. After tagging on a Marte flyout to right, he scooted home on an Andres Machado wild pitch.

Mets’ manager Buck Showalter proved to press all the right buttons once again. After six strong from Bassitt, Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, and Adam Ottavino strung together three scoreless, one-hit innings to complete the 5-0 shutout. The Mets improved to 3-0 for the first time in over ten years.

Outside of a Starling Marte hit by pitch, on a curveball, the drama and friction seemed to subside after the previous night’s near-brouhaha. In the season’s early start, the Mets seem to be clicking on all cylinders, playing mostly clean baseball both offensively and defensively.

Player of the game: Pete Alonso

Alonso broke the 0-0 standstill with his first career grand slam in the 5th inning. The moon-shot went 358 feet with an absurd 39 degree launch angle. It came at 11.6 MPH off the bat. Alonso also had another hard hit ball that could have easily been a run scoring double. However, he was robbed by a terrific defensive play. 

On Deck: 

The Mets wrap up the four game series in Washington Sunday at 1:35 PM ET before they head to Philadelphia. The pitching match up will feature Carlos Carrasco and Erick Fedde as the Mets look to take the four game sweep.