After an offensive explosion led to the Mets taking the first two games of the series, the Mets sent Carlos Carrasco to the mound looking to sweep the series from the Nationals and extend their win streak to six games. Tomás Nido had a huge day at the plate, going 4-4 with three RBI’s and a run scored, and Francisco Lindor extended his RBI streak to 10 games as the Mets won 5-0.
The Mets were hitting the ball hard in the first inning against rookie left-hander Evan Lee making his MLB debut, but were not able to cash in any runs. Brandon Nimmo nearly put the Mets ahead 1-0 to start the inning, but the ball was caught at the wall by Juan Soto. After a line out from Starling Marte, a single from Lindor and a walk to Pete Alonso, Lee got his first career strikeout on Mark Canha to get out of the inning.
The Mets put two more runners on with two outs in the second on a Luis Guillorme walk and a Nido single, but once again weren’t able to make the Nationals pay. Nimmo flew out to left on the first pitch of his at bat to get Lee out of trouble.
After getting the first two batters out in the top of the third, Carrasco lost the zone when the heart of the Nationals’ order came up. Cookie had only walked nine batters over his first nine starts of the season, but he walked Soto, Nelson Cruz and Josh Bell to load the bases for Yadiel Hernandez. Carrasco was able to get out of the inning by striking out Hernandez looking at a change up on the outside corner.
Carrasco found himself in trouble again in the fourth after Luis García and Riley Adams hit back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on the corners for Dee Strange-Gordon. Strange-Gordon had been swinging a hot bat (12-24 since May 21) and at 34-years-old, has not lost much of the speed that made him so prominent in Miami. Despite the ball not being hit particularly hard, the Mets’ terrific middle infield combo of Guillorme and Lindor was able to turn the quick double play to prevent the game’s first run from scoring.
The Mets finally got to Lee in the bottom of the fourth on a rally from the bottom half of the order. J.D. Davis started the inning with a base hit to right field. After Guillorme drew his second walk of the game, Nido ripped his second single of the game up the middle to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. The hit would have only driven in Davis, but Strange-Gordon misplayed the ball in centerfield allowing Guillorme to score from first.
The Nationals put together another two-out rally in the fifth. Another Cruz walk and a double by Bell brought Hernandez up in another RBI spot with a chance to tie the game with a hit. Carrasco retired Hernandez on one pitch to get out of danger again. Hernandez hit the first pitch straight down in front of home plate and didn’t run. Nido fielded the ball and made the easy tag on the motionless Hernandez.
Despite the uncharacteristic lack of control, Carrasco was able to work his way through five scoreless innings with his father in the crowd and gave the Mets a chance to win despite a slow offensive start to the day.
Seth Lugo came into the game in the sixth inning and gave the Mets two strong innings of relief. Lugo gave up just a two-strike bloop single to Adams in the sixth inning, then retired the top of the Nationals’ lineup in order in the seventh inning.
Nido led off the bottom of the seventh with his third hit of the game, and moved to third after a wild pitch and a single by Marte. Lindor came to the plate looking to extend his RBI streak to 10 games with runners on the corners and one out. After fouling off two straight two-strike fastballs, Lindor drove a hanging slider to centerfield for a sac-fly to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
The Mets turned to Adam Ottavino in the eighth inning, and he found himself in trouble quickly. He allowed a single to Bell to lead off the inning and followed it with a walk to Hernandez. Fortunately for Ottavino and the Mets, he was able to strike out the next two Nationals before getting pinch-hitter Keibert Ruiz to ground out to end the inning.
Nido came up in another RBI spot in the bottom of the eighth, and wasted no time cashing in. He jumped on a first pitch slider and ripped a line drive that landed in front of a diving Hernandez in left field before getting behind him and rolling to the wall to extend the Mets’ lead to 5-0.
The Mets gave the ball to Edwin Diaz in the ninth after he had already starting warming up during the bottom of the eighth, and he quickly retired the top of the Nationals’ order to close out the shutout victory and give the Mets their sixth straight win.
Player of the Game: Tomás Nido
The Mets put on a hitting clinic in the first two games of the series with the Nats, and Nido single-handedly kept it going from the ninth spot in the order on Wednesday. His four hits accounted for half of the team’s eight, and his hits drove in four of the Mets’ five runs. It is no secret that Nido’s strength is his glove, but the career day at the plate brought his average up from .215 to .253 for the season. Nido will continue to get regular playing time with James McCann out, so if the consistent playing time can lead to a hot streak at the plate for the Puerto Rican catcher, it will be a huge bonus for an already elite offense as they begin the tough June portion of their schedule.
On Deck
The Mets will begin a west coast trip on Thursday night at 10:10 p.m. ET when they take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Taijuan Walker (3-0, 2.83 ERA) will be on the mound for the Mets coming off a win in his last start against the Phillies. The Dodgers do not yet have a started listed for the game, but Tony Gonsolin (5-0, 1.80 ERA) is in line to make the start. Gonsolin has had an incredible start to the year and is coming off three consecutive quality starts. The game will be televised on SNY, and the radio call will be on WCBS 880.
