On paper it looked like a mismatch, with the Mets throwing the still-great Max Scherzer and the Nationals countering with the now-toast Patrick Corbin. And while Scherzer struggled a little bit, the result was as expected, as the Mets came away with a 7-3 win in the opener of the three-game series in Washington D.C. Monday night.
The Nationals drew first blood with a run in the first inning but the Mets took the lead for good in the second, with a small-ball rally featuring a walk and five singles, which resulted in three runs. Pete Alonso homered the next inning to extend the Mets’ lead to three.
But Scherzer allowed a homer to Juan Soto and an out later he surrendered three straight singles to plate another run and the lead was down to a single run.
Corbin didn’t survive the fifth inning but the Mets couldn’t push across a run in the frame. But they broke thru in a big way in the sixth, as Brandon Nimmo doubled, Starling Marte was hit by a pitch and Francisco Lindor clubbed a three-run homer to the power alley in left center against the pitcher that beaned him earlier in the year.
One day after pounding out 19 hits, the Mets followed with 13 in this game, including a 4-hit game for Nimmo and two-hit games for Alonso, Mark Canha and Jeff McNeil. The result was a victory, which extended the Mets’ winning streak to season-high seven games and ran their record versus NL East clubs to 32-12.
All business victory. Matching what the Braves did against weaker competition. Today should be a wild day.
Gut Reaction: the Mets are in 7th Heaven. 7 straight wins. Seven wins for Scherzer.
Lindor got the big hit. He finished July with a .933 0PS. He started August in a good way. 5-9 RISP is a successful winning formula.
Tonight deGrom returns with the intention of winning the series. LGM