The New York Mets got plenty of late offense as they routed the Nationals to even the series.
The New York Mets got a 7-1 win over the Washington Nationals to even their series at a game apiece. This one was the opposite of Friday night’s 7-6 slugfest early, as both pitchers came up strong. Connelly Early pitched three scoreless innings after spending most of the year dealing wtih an elbow injury, but Washington nicked Jonah Tong for a run in the third to take the early lead.
It wasn’t exactly a stirring rally. Tong hit Nasim Nunez with a pitch, and James Wood rocked a single to left field. Tong helped both runners advance via a wild pitch, and Abimelec Ortiz hit a sacrifice fly to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.
The big news for the Mets was Tong’s start. Scattershot pitches aside, he did have it going against the Nats. He struck out nine in five innings while giving up just the run on three hits and a walk, and Tong proved that he should have been brought up far earlier as he dropped his ERA to 3.82.
It took the Mets a while to get on the board, but they finally did it in a big way in the seventh inning, as A.J. Ewing hit a three-run homer to make it 3-1. Ronny Mauricio followed up with a solo homer right after Ewing, as Washington reliever Jake Irvin began hanging pitches.
The Mets added to their lead in the eighth, starting with a hustle double from Carson Benge, who had three hits in the game. Brett Baty then grounded to short, with the run scoring on a throwing error by Nunez at short.
Mauricio turned the game into a route in the eighth with his second home run of the game, as he hit one from the left side and the second one from the right. The two-run bomb made it 7-1 and put away a game that was basically already close to over.
The Mets had plenty of offensive heroes, and they got excellent production from Ewing and Mauricio at the bottom of the lineup. They left 15 men on base in what turned into a slow, stodgy game, but the result was a win that evened the series at a game apiece.
The Mets bullpen also did some fine work, with Dedniel Nunez, Nate Lavender, Devin Williams and Tobias Myers all contributing scoreless innings. They also shut down the Nats without giving up a hit, and Mets pitchers struck out a total of 14 hitters for the game. The series and season finale takes place tomorrow afternoon.
