Washington Nationals Play Spoiler, Take Two Of Three From The Mets
By Max Rayman
After what feels like an eternity, the Washington Nationals has won a series on the road, taking two of three from the Mets.
In a very competitive NL East race, the New York Mets arrived in Washington D.C. Friday with a sweep in their eyes. After all, they were playing the last placed Washington Nationals — who sitting at 45-86, had lost seven of their last 12.
Game One of their three-game series went about as expected, with Josiah Gray’s struggles to keep the ball in the yard continuing — allowing two homers. The young righty went fiving innings, giving up six runs, while striking out two, raising his ERA to an ugly 4.91. The lone bright spot in the 7-3 loss was Luke Voit, Luis García, and Ildemaro Vargas all recording multi-hit games.
After the blowout loss, it wouldn’t have been shocking to see the Mets steamroll the rest of the series, instead Washington went on to score 14 runs over their next two games. Game Two saw long-time Nationals ace Max Scherzer take the mound for the Mets. Opposite him was Patrick Corbin, arguably the worst pitcher in baseball since 2020.
Despite the one-sided matchup, Corbin and Scherzer engaged in an old-school pitchers duel, matching each other pitch for pitch. Known for his slider, Corbin pretty much abandoned it, instead opting to heavily rely on his sinker. The change in his repertoire was long overdue and led to instant results. He held the Mets high octane offense to one run across seven innings, allowing only three hits, while striking out five and walking one. Scherzer held the Nats to one run across five innings before leaving with an injury.
The top of Washington’s lineup did most of the team’s damage, with Lane Thomas and García going a combined 7-9, with three homers, and five RBIs. Not to be left out, youngster CJ Abrams added two hits as Washington slammed the Mets 7-1.
With Corbin’s dominance imprinted in his mind, Erick Fedde stifled the Mets in the rubber match, holding them to one run across six sharp innings, while striking out two. His issue to put batters away popped back up in the second inning. After a quick 11-pitch first inning, he threw 30 pitches in the second — four of the six batters he faced saw five+ pitches. Fortunately, he rarely ran into trouble for the rest of his outing Allowing two total base runners over his last three innings.
Keibert Ruiz was the next Nationals youngster to take over offensively, going 3-5 with two RBIs, including the game-winning hit in the third. Lane Thomas continued his hit streak, going 2-5, while Vargas’s kept his hitting streak alive — now up to 10 games. For the second straight game, Washington won 7-1.