In their final Grapefruit League game of 2016, the Nats offense hit three home runs in a 12-1 win over the New York Mets
After two straight days of games cancelled due to rain, the Washington Nationals were back in action today as they took on the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie. In their final spring game of 2016, the Nats’ offense had to face Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, but they were able to beat New York 12-1 and finish the Grapefruit League schedule with a 18-4-3 record.
Max Scherzer was supposed to get the start today against New York, but the Nats decided to keep him behind for a minor league outing. Instead, Trevor Gott got the start in a game where Dusty Baker used all relievers. Gott went the first two innings, gave up three hits, walked one, and struck out swinging against Harvey at the plate.
The scoring got started in the top of the first inning against Harvey. With one out, Anthony Rendon singled to center and stole second and Bryce Harper drew a walk. Then, Ryan Zimmerman hit a three-run homer to left on the first pitch to put the Nats up 3-0. It was Zimmerman’s third home run of the spring.
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Three innings later, against Syndergaard, former Met Daniel Murphy led off the inning with a triple. Jayson Werth hit a two-run home run to left, his second of the spring, to increase the lead to 5-0. All the Nats’ starters had two plate appearances before ending their afternoon.
In the top of the sixth inning, with Reed Johnson on first via a hit by pitch and two outs, Stephen Drew hit a two-run homer down the left field line against Zack Thornton that gave the Nationals a 7-0 lead. It was Drew’s second home run of the spring.
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After Gott, Sean Burnett continued his great spring by striking out two of the three batters he faced in the third. Matt Belisle, Blake Treinen, Felipe Rivero, Shawn Kelley, Oliver Perez, and Nick Masset shut out the Mets for the next five innings, combining to strike out five batters. The only Met run of the day was scored in the bottom of the ninth when Travis Taijeron hit a solo home run off Jonathan Papelbon.
The Nationals would score five more runs in the top of the ninth against the Mets’ closer, Jeurys Familia. With the bases loaded and one out, Trea Turner hit a groundball that was misplayed by third baseman Eric Campbell, which allowed two runs to score.
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Three batters later, after a Johnson RBI single made it 10-0, Drew hit a ground ball to first that appeared to end the inning, but Familia dropped the throw as he went to the bag, allowing Johnson to score. Familia would leave the game after 2/3 of an inning. With Antonio Bastardo in the game, the Nats would add one more run on a Jhonatan Solano single to center.
Next Game: After a day off tomorrow, the Washington Nationals will be begin a two-game exhibition series with the Minnesota Twins Friday night at Nats Park. You can catch the game on MASN at 6:05 p.m ET.