Two dingers were all they needed, but things got hairy at the end.
It was a bittersweet, beautiful afternoon in Queens today, as the Mets rolled to their sixth straight victory, taking down the Nationals 4-3. However, the seemingly easy victory almost came apart in the ninth and the Mets may have lost their ace to injury for an undetermined period of time.
The Mets got on the board in the bottom of the first. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto walked and, after deep fly outs to right by Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil got enough of a ball to send it out, just clearing the right-field wall near the foul pole, putting the Mets up 3-0. The walks were especially surprising, because starter Michael Soroka had only walked seven in 37 innings before gameplay today.
The Mets added a run in the bottom of the fifth when Brandon Nimmo added a solo home run to the party, putting the Mets up 4-0.
Kodai Senga was cruising through his start, working in his curveball far more than usual and getting lots of swings and misses on the ghost fork. Through five and two-thirds innings, Senga had thrown just 77 pitches, allowed one hit and one walk, and struck out five. However, when covering first base, Senga had to jump in the air to catch a toss from Alonso, and he landed awkwardly on the bag. Senga crumpled to the ground and was in considerable pain before eventually leaving the field under his own strength. As of press time, we still don’t have an update on the severity of the injury.
Alonso seemed shaken up at his role in Senga’s injury, and it was heartening to see the Mets infield gather around Alonso to show him support.
The Mets bullpen was excellent today, with both Jose Castillo and Huascar Brozoban continuing Senga’s scoreless outing.
The Mets had plenty of baserunners today, but weren’t able to convert any other than on those two long balls. Overall, the Mets left eight on base, continuing their troubling trend of leaving runs on the table, but with the score as it was, the stranded runners weren’t felt.
At least not until the ninth.
Ryne Stanek had a less than ideal ninth inning, allowing three straight hits to get the Nationals on the board before being pulled for Edwin Diaz. Diaz bent and buckled but didn’t break, allowing two more runs to score on a base hit and a wild pitch before finally putting away the Nats for the Mets’ sixth straight win and second straight series sweep.
The Mets will welcome the Rays tomorrow for a three-game set. Clay Holmes and Taj Bradley face off in the series opener.
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Big Mets winner: Jeff McNeil, +24.8% WPA
Big Mets loser: Ryne Stanek, -14.9% WPA
Mets pitchers: +29.9% WPA
Mets hitters: +20.1% WPA
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