The Mets (38-44) were defeated by the Nationals (49-34) by a score of 3-2 at Nationals Park Monday night.

Offense:

The Mets didn’t really have anything brewing until the fourth inning when Stephen Strasburg walked three in the inning – Asdrubal Cabrera with one out, then T.J. Rivera and Lucas Duda (on four pitches) with two outs. Travis d’Arnaud then worked a nine-pitch at-bat only to strike out looking at a 97 mph fastball on the outside corner to end the threat.

Stephen Strasburg had thrown 77 pitches through 4 innings as the Mets were doing a great job of making him throw a lot of pitches so they could face their MLB-worst bullpen. He then threw just seven pitches in the 5th and ten in the 6th, eventually finishing his seven innings of work having thrown 105 pitches and retiring the last ten batters to face him.

The Mets had something going against the Nats bullpen in the 8th inning when Brandon Nimmo led off the inning with an infield single. Steven Matz then hit for himself despite being done pitching and laid down the sacrifice bunt moving Nimmo to second. Jose Reyes then singled to left field and with Nimmo about to touch third base and left fielder Brian Goodwin fielding the ball, third base coach Glen Sherlock sent Nimmo who was thrown out at the plate.

The Nationals have blown 13 games this season, and their closer of choice was lefty Sammy Solis who sported an 8.44 ERA coming into the night. He immediately fell behind Jay Bruce 3-0 before Bruce hit the 3-1 pitch deep to right-center field for the first out. T.J. Rivera then socked a single to left field to bring Lucas Duda to the plate. He worked a full count only to strike out looking on a fastball on the outside corner – a questionable call for the second out.

Matt Albers was brought in to face Travis d’Arnaud with the runner still on first. However, Curtis Granderson pinch-hit for d’Arnaud and down in the count 0-2, he hit a wall-scraping home run into the first row of the right field stands to tie the game! Guess his hip is feeling better…

Pitching:

Steven Matz started for the Mets tonight and did not have it easy in the beginning. The first inning began with a single to Brian Goodwin and a walk to Michael Taylor. Bryce Harper came to the dish but struck out looking on a 95 mph sinker on the outside corner for the first out of the inning. Ryan Zimmerman then grounded into a double play to end the threat.

The second inning was going swimmingly until, with two outs, Jose Reyes made two consecutive errors at shortstop – the first throwing, the second fielding. The first error went in the book as a hit for Wilmer Difo, but it absolutely should have been recorded as an error. Neither play seemed particularly challenging. If only the Mets had a good defensive shortstop…

Matz ended up pitching 7.0 shutout innings, retiring the last 10 batters to face him. He allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four, throwing 112 pitches and lowering his season ERA to 2.12. He fell behind in counts often, but was able to work his way back effectively by throwing his secondary pitches when it mattered. He threw mostly changeups and curveballs, but his slider did make an appearance or two.

Jerry Blevins came in to pitch the 8th inning in a tie game and was greeted by pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy. He got Murph to ground into a 1-6-3 putout as the ball deflected off Blevins’ glove towards second base where Reyes fielded it and threw it to first in time for the out. He then walked Ryan Raburn before Michael Taylor hit a two-run home run to right field to score the first runs of the game. He then walked Bryce Harper which ended his night.

Paul Sewald came in to face Ryan Zimmerman who hit a long fly ball to center field that was awkwardly run down by Brandon Nimmo for the out with Harper moving up to second base. He then got Anthony Rendon to hit a dribbler to third base, prompting T.J. Rivera to make a great bare-handed play for the out.

After tying the game in the top of the ninth inning, the Mets sent Sewald back out to the mound to start the bottom of the frame. Sewald walked Matt Wieters on four pitches before Wilmer Difo couldn’t get the bunt down, popping it up to T.J. Rivera before walking back to the dugout while being bombarded by boos.

Josh Edgin was brought in to face Stephen Drew who pinch-hit for shortstop Adrian Sanchez. Edgin walked Drew on four pitches before facing lefty pinch-hitter Adam Lind who flew out to deep center field. The lead runner moved up to third on the play now with two outs.

Collins then brought in Fernando Salas (instead of Addison Reed who had been warming) who immediately allowed a walk-off base hit to Ryan Raburn to give the Nationals a 3-2 win.

On Deck:

The Mets and Seth Lugo (3-1, 3.55 ERA) will take on the Nationals and Joe Ross (4-3, 5.12 ERA) tomorrow in D.C. at 11:05 am.