Washington Nationals Shut Out In Murphy’s Return To New York

Check out our three takeaways from last night’s 2-0 Washington Nationals loss to the New York Mets

Last night at Citi Field, the Washington Nationals (23-16) and the New York Mets (22-17) had a pitcher’s duel that lived up to the hype. Both Max Scherzer and Noah Syndergaard struck out ten batters, but in the end, the difference was two solo home runs given up by Scherzer.

It is only one game in the series and the Nationals are still in first place in the NL East, but this series is a statement series for the Nats as they try to get back some of the edge they had on the Mets before the second half of last season.

However, Syndergaard was dominant tonight and kept the Nats hitters off balance over the course of seven innings. Scherzer did pitch well and only gave up one hit besides the home run (Kevin Plawecki single in the sixth). In the end, the Nats really didn’t have many opportunities to generate offense and when they did, the Mets made the defensive plays to get out of trouble.

Of course, the story of the night was Daniel Murphy’s return to Citi Field where he got a great standing ovation from the fans. Although Murphy’s batting average dropped below .400, he was 1-for-3 with a bloop single to right and he made two excellent defensive plays to keep the Mets from tacking on more runs.

Before Gio Gonzalez takes on Bartolo Colon tonight (7:10 p.m ET, MASN/ESPN), check out my three takeaways from last night’s loss:

Next: Scherzer Pitches Well Despite Two Home Runs