Mets Split Series with Nats

July 5, 2024 

Before the series the Mets were coming off a series loss to the Astros and on a 2 game losing streak and hoped to rebound against NL East rival Washington Nationals during the week of Independence Day.

In the first game of the series, Mets lefty David Peterson would face off against Nats right-hander MacKenzie Gore. The game started very slow for the Mets as they were already down 2-0 heading into the top of the 6th innings, in the top of the 6th inning the Mets looked to take the lead, and they did. With the help of a Mark Vientos single to left the Mets put their first run on the board, but still down 2-1 Fransisco Alvarez came to the plate, in that plate appearance Alvarez continued his hot streak by doubling to center and helping the Mets take the 3-2 lead. Both teams would go scoreless until the bottom of the 8th when Washington’s Meneses came to the plate and hit a double to tie the game at 3 after Dedniel Núñez entered the game. After a scoreless 9th innings the teams would go on to play extra innings. When the top of the 10th came around the Mets bats woke up, they scored 6 runs after a JD Martinez 3-run homer, Fransisco Alvarez 1 RBI triple, and a Jose Iglesias 2-run homerun. The bottom of the 10th would put the Mets in a sticky situation especially when newcomer Tyler Jay came into the pitch, Jay gave up 4 runs, 2 hits, and 2 walks in not even an inning pitched. After he was pulled from the game the Mets put in Reed Garrett who gave up a hit but got the save to lock down a 9-7 win for the Mets.

The next game would go almost similar to the one the night before with Sean Manaea and DJ Herz on the mount for the 2 teams. The game would start just like the night before as the Nats were up 2-0 heading into the top of the 6th, in the top of the 6th Lindor homered to make the score 2-1 heading into the bottom of the 6th. Neither team would strike until the top of the 8th when Brandon Nimmo hit an RBI single to left field to tie the game up at 2-2. The next inning and a half there would be no action leading the 2 teams to go into extra innings for the second straight night and the Mets 3rd straight night. The top of the 10th innings would go just like the night before for the Mets, dominant. The inning started with a Jose Iglesias 1 run double, then a Nimmo 1 run double, after that a Vientos 1 run single and finally a Pete Alonso 2-run home run. The bottom of the 10th the Nats would go scoreless after a Dedniel Núñez save to secure the Mets their second win in a row.

In the third game the game started very hot for the Mets with rookie Christian Scott on the mound. Through 4.5 innings the Mets would go up 5-0 with a Tyrone Taylor solo homerun, Vientos 2-run 435 bomb to center field, and a Lindor 2-run homerun. However, in the bottom of the 5th Christian Scott would give up his first run of the game to a Ildemaro Vargas single. Scott would stay in the game in the 6th inning where things did not go his way again after a 3-run, leaving Scott’s stat line at 5.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 strikeouts. The Mets bats would go dry for the rest of the game helping the Nationals score 2 runs in the 8th when Jake Diekman came to pitch and 1 run in the 8th when Ty Adcock pitched. This loss would be pretty devastating considering the lead they had entering the bottom of the 5th but the Metropolitins were back at in at 11:05 the next day.

The next and the final game of the series on Independence Day the Mets had inconsistent starter Jose Quintana pitching and the Nationals had quality starter Jake Irvin pitching. This game would be a pitcher's game, Jose Quintana would have his best start of the year going 7 innings, giving up 4 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, and 1 strikeout. On the other side of the dugout Nationals starter Jake Irvin had an amazing start for himself, pitching 8 innings, striking out 8 batters, walking 1 batter who was DJ Stewart, and giving up just 1 hit which was a Jeff McNeil single in the third innings. Due to the Met's horrendous bating today, they would ultimately lose the game after an Adrian Houser gave up a solo home run to Jesse Winker in the 8th inning.

Now it is onto Pittsburgh where the Mets will go against a 41-45 Pirates team, the Mets will get to face star rookie Paul Skenes in game 1 of the series with Bailey Falter, Mitch Keller, and Luis Ortiz to follow.