The New York Mets and the Washington Nationals met for the first time during the 2017 season on Friday at Citi Field. The Nationals took the first game of the series with a 4-3 victory after 11 innings.

Pitching

Jacob deGrom was supposed to start on Friday, but a stiff neck caused the Mets to move his start back to Saturday. Instead Matt Harvey was called upon with three days’ rest to face Tanner Roark and the Nationals. Harvey made a quality start as he went seven innings giving up four hits, two walks, and three runs on two home runs. Harvey also struck out two batters on the night.

Jerry Blevins pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out one and walking one.

Addison Reed pitched in his first game since handing the closer’s role back to Jeurys Familia whose 15-game suspension ended Thursday. However, after Familia threw 30 pitches in his first game back Thursday, Reed was called upon to pitch the ninth. He answered with a perfect inning.

Josh Smoker pitched a scoreless 10th and stayed in for the 11th as well. Familia came in after all as he replaced Smoker after giving up a one-out double to Bryce Harper and an intentional walk to Daniel Murphy. Familia got out of the inning, but not before giving up a bases-loaded walk to Trea Turner to give the Nationals a 4-3 lead.

Offense

After Harper gave the Nationals an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Michael Conforto hit a lead-off home run in the bottom of the inning to make it a 2-1 game.

Curtis Granderson tied the game up at two in the bottom of fourth with an RBI single. The Nationals took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a Jose Lobaton home run, but Granderson tied things up again in the sixth as he hit his first home run of the season.

The Mets couldn’t cash in on a good scoring chance in the seventh. With a short bench, Zack Wheeler pinch-hit for Harvey and got a two-out double. An intentional walk to Conforto and a walk to Juan Lagares loaded the bases for Jay Bruce, but he lined out to Harper in right field.

The Mets failed to score in the next four innings as well as the Nationals pulled out the win in the 11th.

On Deck

The Mets will look to end their two-game skid on Saturday at Citi Field. If healthy, deGrom (0-0, 1.89 ERA) will take on Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 1.33 ERA) at 4:05 PM. If deGrom isn’t healthy, it is likely that recently recalled Sean Gilmartin would get the nod.