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Washington Nationals Recap: Nats Defeat Mets 12-7 In Lucas Giolito’s First Spring Start

By Ricky Keeler

Mar 18, 2016; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (44) delivers a pitch during a spring training game against the New York Mets at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 18, 2016; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; Washington Nationals starting pitcher Lucas Giolito (44) delivers a pitch during a spring training game against the New York Mets at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Nationals used a five run top of the first inning against Bartolo Colon as they blew out the New York Mets, 12-7.

Tonight, the Washington Nationals took on the New York Mets in the beginning of a home-and-home. The first of those two games took place at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. Lucas Giolito made his first spring start for the Nats after three relief appearances because Gio Gonzalez was with his wife, who had a son Thursday night. In this game, the story was the offense as they hit three home runs en route to a 12-7 win over New York.

The scoring started for the Nats when they put up five runs in the top of the first inning against Bartolo Colon. The offense began with four straight hits, which included a single by Michael Taylor, back-to-back RBI doubles by Daniel Murphy and Stephen Drew, and a single by Ryan Zimmerman.

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Two batters later, with the Nats up 2-0, Danny Espinosa hit a three-run home run to right to increase the lead to 5-0. It was Espinosa’s first home run of the spring. Taylor would continue his great offensive night in the second when he hit a solo home run to right, his third home run of the spring, to make the score 6-0.

While Giolito only went two innings tonight, he did a good job against most of the Mets regulars. He gave up only one hit (David Wright single in the first), walked one, and he struck out Kevin Plawecki swinging in the second to end his outing.

The Mets would get two runs back against Felipe Rivero in the third inning. Juan Lagares led off the inning with a solo home run to left center. Three batters later, after a Wright single, Yoenis Cespedes hit a double to left to drive in Wright for New York’s second run.

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But, the Nats kept the scoring going in the next three innings. The fourth inning began with back-to-back doubles by Reed Johnson and Jose Lobaton. In the fifth, with the Nationals up 7-2, Chris Heisey hit a solo home run to left center to increase the lead to 8-2. It was Heisey’s second home run in as many days.

Even when Colon left the game, the Nationals offense scored four in the sixth against Buddy Carlyle. Former Met Matt den Dekker drove in Johnson with a RBI single after Johnson and Lobaton walked and singled respectively to begin the inning. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Drew drove in two runs due to an error by T.J. Rivera. The final run of the inning came on a Heisey RBI single to left center. As for the offense today, three Nats had multi-hit games, with Taylor going 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

In the bottom of the sixth, Rivera made up for his error by hitting a solo shot to left field against Nats reliever Trevor Gott. Three innings later, Erik Davis would struggle with his command as he allowed the Mets to load the bases via a single and two walks. Then, Michael Conforto hit a grand slam to right with two outs to cut the lead to 12-7, but the scoring would stop there.

Next: District Daily: Burnett Impresses In Spring Training

Next Game: The Washington Nationals will be back in Viera tomorrow to take on the New York Mets at 1:05 PM ET. You can watch the game on MASN. Joe Ross will get the start for the Nats against Matt Harvey for the Mets.

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