The Mets (54-59) beat the Nationals (60-51) by a score of 6-1 on Tuesday night in Washington.
Zack Wheeler got the start for the Mets and was inefficient, but managed to get the job done. Zack went 6.2 innings, striking out 5 and allowing just 1 run despite surrendering 7 hits, 4 walks, and a wild pitch. Wheeler tossed 109 pitches (66 for strikes) and is now 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA in his last 7 starts.
The Mets got on the board quickly against Gio Gonzalez, when Daniel Murphy hit a triple in the top of the 1st and scored on a base-hit from David Wright. New York struck again in the next inning, when Travis d’Arnaud doubled, moved to 3rd on a groundout, and scored on a bloop single from Wheeler.
Wheeler got into some trouble in the bottom of the 2nd, walking 2 batters to start the frame and walking a 3rd after striking out Bryce Harper for the 1st out. With the bases loaded, Wheeler let a pitch get away from him, and Adam LaRoche came in to score on the wild pitch while the other runners moved to 2nd and 3rd. Jose Lobaton hit a grounder to the left side that seemed certain to erase the Mets’ lead, but the ball struck baserunner Asdrubal Cabrera, erasing him from the basepaths for the 2nd out and forcing Ian Desmond to hold at 3rd. Wheeler then got his opposite number, Gonzalez, to fly out to end the inning. Wheeler then gave up a pair of singles to start the bottom of the 3rd, but got Jayson Werth to hit into a double-play to help him escape the jam unscathed.
Werth doubled to lead off the bottom of the 6th, and when LaRoche singled through the hole on the left side, Jayson decided to round 3rd and charge home, looking to score the tying run. Eric Campbell, getting a rare start in left field, came up with the ball and fired towards the plate. A perfect one-hopper ended up right in the mitt of d’Arnaud, who slapped the tag on Werth for the 1st out. Wheeler retired the next 2 hitters to hold on to his 2-1 lead as the teams headed into the 7th.
The Mets added some major insurance in the top of the 7th. After Chris Young worked a 9-pitch walk against Gonzalez, Ruben Tejada singled on a ball which deflected off of a diving Anthony Rendon. With Wheeler coming up to bunt, Drew Storen was brought in to replace Gonzalez. Wheeler laid down a perfect bunt, moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, and Storen pegged Juan Lagares to load the bases. Murphy plated a pair with a hard shot under Asdrubal Cabrera’s glove at 2nd (which was scored a hit, but should have been an error). After Wright struck out on a very questionable check-swing call, Duda drove in Juan with a bloop single, making it 5-1 New York. Curtis Granderson came in to pinch-hit for Campbell, but lined out to Werth to end the frame.
Wheeler gave up a pair of singles to start the bottom of the 7th, but got another timely double-play, putting a runner on 3rd with 2 outs. Terry Collins elected to pull Wheeler and bring in Josh Edgin to face Denard Span. Span hit a sinking liner to center field, but Juan Lagares made a fantastic diving catch to end the inning (Lagares appeared to be in pain after the play, but ended up staying in the game).
Blake Treinen came in for Washington and hit d’Arnaud to start the top of the 8th. Chris Young then got a base-hit to put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, and after Tejada lined out, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, back from the minor leagues, hit a screaming liner which hit off of the pitcher and went into center for a base-hit, scoring TDA to put the Mets up 6-1 and moving CY to 3rd. Lagares came up and lined one to Werth, who caught it and fired home to nab Young for an inning-ending double-play.
Jeurys Familia came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th and worked around a 2-out double from LaRoche to put up a scoreless inning. Dana Eveland came in for the 9th and worked a 1-2-3 inning to give the Mets the victory.
Wheeler has been putting up some solid outings lately, but he really has to work on keeping his pitch counts under control. Still, it’s nice to see Zack keep on rolling. He’s been making big pitches when he’s needed to over the past couple months.
Granderson is really in a slump, and the numbers are ugly. But he bounced back after a slump to start the season, and I think he’ll get back on track before too long.
Chris Young is like the opposite of Juan Lagares, who always does something to help us win. Even when CY gets on base a couple times, he manages to do something wrong. Today, it was getting thrown out at home. I guess it could have been worse. Also, I feel like he hits one hard shot that goes foul down the left-field line every game. Maybe he should wait on the ball a bit more… Or we could cut him. That works too.
Murphy is hitting again, and Wright looks to be slowly-but-surely breaking out of his slump. Lagares is also swinging the bat well lately, and when you factor in the offense we’re getting from TDA and Duda, our lineup isn’t looking so bad these days. The Giants’ pitchers gave us some problems last series, so it was nice to see the Mets get off to a good start on offense in their series against the Nats.
Getting to and over 500 is a much more realistic goal, but if the Mets want to even entertain the thought of putting themselves in the playoff hunt, they need to win games like this against divisional opponents. Hopefully they can build on this win and make a dent in the standings.
Up Next: The Mets will continue their series with the Nationals on Wednesday night in Washington. Jon Niese (5-7, 3.24 ERA) will face Doug Fister (10-3, 2.68 ERA) at 7:05 PM.
