Michael Pérez. John Jones-USA TODAY Sports
After a rainout fiasco, followed by a subsequently suspended game in Washington D.C. on Saturday, the New York Mets (19-21) and Washington Nationals resumed their game early Sunday afternoon. In the first game of the doubleheader at National Park which began at 12:35 pm ET, the Mets were unable to successfully mount any of their numerous comeback attempts losing the game 3-2. New York will hope to avoid back-to-back doubleheader sweeps later this afternoon.
Before the suspension, the Nationals and Mets got in 2 1/3 innings. Over that time, the Nationals cashed in one run while leaving three men on base. This included a double play that got original Mets’ starter Joey Lucchesi out of the inning courtesy of Dominic Smith.
Meanwhile, before the suspension, the Mets were able to get a man on second and third base via a Daniel Vogelbach single and Michael Pérez double. In the first at-bat after the suspension concluded on Sunday, Brandon Nimmo hit a ball to deep right field which resulted in a sacrifice fly, immediately tying the game at one.
The Nationals responded back in the fourth inning. After the Mets’ bats left the bases loaded in the top-half of the inning, Stephen Nogosek – New York’s first pitcher of the day – walked, hit, and then allowed a single all with two outs. This put Washington back up 2-1.
The Mets finally knotted the game back up in the seventh inning. Brandon Nimmo lined a double down the line which pushed Pérez – who tallied his third hit of the game – all the way to third base. Jeff McNeil hit a sacrifice fly to center field and New York tied the game back up at two.
Just moments after New York tied the game, Mets’ relief pitcher Dominic Leone served up a solo home run to CJ Abrams to propel the Nationals back to the lead. After seven innings, New York trailed, once again, 3-2.
The score would hold 3-2 and New York dropped Game 1. The Mets left nine men on base and just were not able to come back from several different one-run deficits. The latest was a two-out ally in the ninth inning that was halted after New York had two men on base and McNeil lined out to left-center field via a 98 mph laser that had an expected batting average of .420.
Another aspect worth mentioning is Buck Showalter once again opted for using a plethora of fringe major-league relievers in an uber-conservative bullpen approach during a tied ballgame. Showalter has opted to go this route numerous times this season, many incidents of which came back to bite. It was certainly not the reason why New York lost in this one, but played a role in the overall story of the game.
Player of the Game: Michael Pérez
What a first game back in the majors it was for veteran Michael Pérez. The backup catcher went 4-for-4 with one run. All of which is all a bit ironic given his minor league slash line of .153/.261/.254 (.515 OPS) this season for Triple-A Syracuse. Always nice to see contributions from the most unlikely sources.
On Deck
It is a very quick turnaround for these Nationals and Mets. Game 2 of the split-admission doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 4:35 pm ET on Sunday. The probable pitching matchup for that game is Max Scherzer (5.56 ERA) versus Jake Irvin (0.84 ERA).
