Citi Field had become something of a home-away-from-home for the Nationals. Following their 6-2 win the day prior, the Nats entered Friday’s game having won 12 straight, and 26 of their last 30, at the Mets’ home stadium.
The Nats would seek their 13th straight victory at Citi against Mets starter Dillon Gee, who had experienced problems of late. In his last five starts, Gee was only 1-3 with an ERA of 4.81. Gio Gonzalez, who got the start for the Nats, would be chasing his ninth win of the season and a .500 record.
Things did not get off to a good start. After the Nats stranded a pair of baserunners in the first, Gio quickly got himself into hot water. Leadoff man Eric Young singled, and Juan Lagares was hit by a pitch. After a fly out, Gonzalez walked Lucas Duda to load the bases.
New York catcher Travis d’Arnaud stepped to the plate and drove a 3-2 pitch down the left field line for a double. Two runs scored easily, but as Duda raced toward the plate, it looked as if that would be all the Mets would get. The relay throw from Desmond reached home ahead of the runner and Ramos swept the tag down. Unfortunately, Duda’s slide knocked the ball from Ramos’ glove. The runner was ruled safe, Ramos was charged with an error, and the Mets held an early 3-0 lead.
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After narrowly missing a scoring opportunity in the second, Washington began to claw their way back into the game in the third. Adam LaRoche took advantage of the shift and drove a ball through the hole at shortstop, bringing Anthony Rendon around to score his Major League-leading 106th run of the year.
Ian Desmond followed with a single to put two on. A double play, hit into by Bryce Harper, threatened to derail the rally, but Wilson Ramos came up big with a single of his own to drive in LaRoche. The lead was down to one.
Two innings later found Anthony Rendon leading another charge. Instant replay turned what was originally ruled a double into a solo homer, and turned a 3-2 deficit into a 3-3 tie.
This tie would only last until the bottom of the frame. With Eric Young, who had singled to lead off the Mets half of the fifth, running on the pitch, Juan Lagares got a hold of a changeup that stayed up in the zone and drove a double deep to left. Young scored easily, and Gio Gonzalez found himself on the wrong side of a 4-3 score.
Gio would settle down after that. He left after 6 2/3 innings having retired the last eight hitters he faced. With three earned runs surrendered (as well as one unearned), Gonzalez gave the Nats a quality start that included seven strikeouts against only one walk. He struggled with command early, but battled back to keep his team in the game.
After Gio exited, the Nationals brought on Aaron Barrett to close out the seventh and Jerry Blevins to pitch the eighth. The pair did exactly what was asked of them, surrendering only a single hit over their 1 1/3 innings and, more importantly, keeping the Nationals within a run.
But on a night where the Mets were celebrating Hispanic heritage, the Nationals managed nada against the New York bullpen. Carlos Torres, Jeurys Familia, and Jenrry Mejia combined for 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief behind Gee, and Washington never managed to push across their fourth run.
The failure of the offense certainly didn’t stem from a lack of opportunities. The Nationals racked up eleven hits and four walks (the walks all coming courtesy of LaRoche), but the baserunners were squandered. The Nats stranded eleven over the course of the game, including two in the top of the ninth with a chance to push the game to extra innings or take the lead.
In spite of their loss, the Nationals got some help from the previous Washington franchise Friday night as the Rangers managed to beat the Braves, 2-1. Thanks to that, the lead in the NL East remains 8 1/2 games, and the magic number falls to 8. Still, even with that silver lining, one can’t help but think about all of the opportunities the Nats wasted Friday.
Tomorrow, the Nats will send Doug Fister (13-6, 2.53 ERA) to the mound to face Zack Wheeler (10-9, 3.38 ERA), with the hope of driving that magic number even lower.