The Mets and Nationals met on Monday for a quick one-game series in Washington that was a makeup game from the April 3, 2021 postponement. It wasn’t a pleasant night for New York as the Nats powered five home runs to defeat the Mets, 8-4. The Nats got to .500 after the win and only trail the Mets by three games in the NL East.
Right-handed pitcher Jerad Eickhoff got the ball for the Mets on Monday in his second start of the season. He was opposed on the mound by Nationals right-handed pitcher Paolo Espino.
Eickhoff fell behind early allowing three home runs in the first two innings, but battled back to complete six innings.
The Mets came to bat first in the top of the first to open the single-game series. Espino gave up a quick two-pitch lead-off single to Jeff McNeil in the first, but settled in to line out Francisco Lindor and force Dominic Smith into a double play to end the game.
Eickhoff came to the mound in the bottom of the first and really struggled early against the Nationals. He gave up back-to-back home runs to lead-off hitter Kyle Schwarber, followed by Trea Turner to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead with no outs in the first. He then allowed a third consecutive hit, a double by Juan Soto to right field to put a runner on with no outs.
Eickhoff managed to settle in after an early mound visit. He grounded out Josh Bell, forced Josh Harrison to fly out and Yan Gomes to line out to get out of the inning before further damage was done by the Nationals.
The Nationals once again came out strong in the bottom half of the second as Gerardo Parra hit a five-pitch solo home run to right field to extend the Nationals’ lead to 3-0 over the Mets in the second.
Eickhoff again settled in following giving up another big home run. He forced Starlin Castro to ground out and Espino and Schwarber to ground out to end the second inning.
The Mets’ bats showed life in the fourth. Francisco Lindor grounded out to start the inning, but Smith and Alonso hit back to back singles to put two runners on with no outs in the second. They would fail to produce runs, however when McKinney flew out and Pillar popped out to end the inning as the Mets’ lack of producing runs with runners in scoring position continued.
After two rough innings for Eickhoff, he came back to produce two strong innings in the third and fourth inning.
Lead-off hitter Kyle Schwarber opened the bottom half of the fifth for the Nationals. He continued to have great success against Eickhoff who gave up another solo home run to Schwarber (his second of the day). Eickhoff then struck out turner, lined out Soto, and flew out Bell to avoid further damage and send the game to the sixth.
The Nationals led the Mets 4-0 heading into the top of the sixth.
After five strong innings on the mound, Espino’s day came to an end as Sam Clay replaced Espino on the mound for the Nationals in the sixth.
Espino’s final line:
5.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 0 HR, 2.02 ERA
Clay came out pretty strong in the sixth. He lined out Lindor and flew out Smith for two quick outs before hitting Pete Alonso with a pitch. With one runner on, he then grounded out McKinney to end the inning.
Eickhoff came back out for the sixth inning for the Mets and found himself once again struggling. He started the inning well with a fly out of Harrison, but then gave up a double to Gomes to put a runner on second with one out. After a mound visit, he struck out Parra, but then gave up an RBI single to the red-hot Castro that scored Gomes to extend the Nationals’ lead to 5-0 over the Mets in the sixth. Eickhoff struck out Clay to get out of trouble and out of the inning.
With Jose Peraza on deck to pinch-hit for Eickhoff, the Nationals went to their bullpen. It was Wander Suero coming in to replace Clay on the mound for the Nationals in the seventh.
Suero hit Peraza in his first batter-faced to put runners on first and second. He then surrendered a two-out single to McNeil which scored Luis Guillorme to put the Mets on the board. Lindor then struck out swinging to end the inning. But the Mets got themselves on the board and guaranteed avoiding being shut-out. The Nationals still led the Mets 5-1 heading to the seventh inning stretch.
Eickhoff’s day ended after six innings pitched and four home runs surrendered. Rojas went to his bullpen and it was Sean Reid-Foley coming in to replace Eickhoff on the mound in the seventh.
Eickhoff’s final line:
6.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 4 HR, 4.50 ERA
Reid-Foley had a shaky start to the inning. He popped out Schwarber to start the inning, but then gave up a single to Turner and on a missed catch on a pickoff attempt by Alonso, Turner advanced to second. Reid-Foley then grounded out Soto before intentionally walking Bell to put two on with two outs for the Nationals. A strikeout of Harrison got Reid-Foley out of the inning without damage being done.
The Mets would try to make a comeback in the eighth. It all started with a single by Smith to right field. Washington then went to their bullpen and replaced Suero on the mound with Justin Miller.
Miller would struggle quick as Alonso lasered a two-run home run to left field that scored Smith, followed by another home run to McKinney to decrease the Nationals’ lead to just one run as it was then 5-4 Nationals with no outs in the eighth.
That’s all the Mets would produce, however. Miller struck out Pillar and was then replaced on the mound with Brad Hand, who flew out Michael Conforto (pinch-hitting for Guillorme) and struck out McCann to end the inning.
The Mets made a handful of defensive changes in the eighth. McNeil moved from second to third base, Travis Blankenhorn came in to replace Conforto at second base, McCann remained in the game at catcher, and Miguel Castro came in to replace Reid-Foley on the mound for the Mets.
Reid-Foley’s final line:
1.0 IP 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 3.98 ERA
Castro’s struggles on the mound continued on Monday. After a fly-out of Gomes, Castro walked Parra. Castro then reached on a field error by Blankenhorn that advanced Parra to third and Castro to second.
Castro then gave up a three-run home run to Ryan Zimmerman as the home runs continued to hurt the Mets. Zimmerman’s three-run home run extended the National’s lead over the Mets to 8-4. Schwarber then singled before Castro forced Turner into a double play to stop the damage and send the game to the ninth.
Castro’s final line:
1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 1 HR, 3.31 ERA
The Mets were hoping they could continue their offensive momentum in the ninth, but they wouldn’t be able to produce. Albert Almora pinch-hit for Castro in the ninth and struck out to start the inning. McNeil then flew out and Lindor lined out to end the inning as the Nationals claimed the win over the Mets by a score of 8-4.
The Mets’ record falls to 40-34 after Monday’s loss to the Nationals, who improve their record to 38-38 to even back out to .500 on the season.
Eickhoff (0-1) took the loss for the Mets and Espino (2-2) was credited with the win. Hand (17) was credited with the save as he closed out the final five outs for the Nationals.
The Mets will now head to Atlanta, Ga. to open a three-game series against the Braves before heading on the subway in New York to the Bronx to play a three-game weekend series against subway-series rival Yankees this weekend.
