Beginning a two-week stretch that could help define their season for better or worse, the Mets were embarrassed in the series opener at Nationals Park on Monday night.
Washington stole a franchise record-tying six bases while scoring 11 unanswered runs, struggling Ben Revere and Danny Espinosa combined for seven of the team’s 17 hits and the Nationals extended their lead over New York in the National League East to 4 games with an 11-4 drubbing.
As a light rain fell early on, it looked as though New York might be kicking off this crucial 14-day span on the right note. Curtis Granderson singled to lead off the game against Washington right-hander Joe Ross, and later came home on Neil Walker’s sacrifice fly to start the scoring. James Loney then drove a 1-0 pitch to deep center, but Revere made an acrobatic catch on the warning track to end the inning and limit the damage to one run.
The Nationals had Mets starter Noah Syndergaard on the ropes in the bottom of the first, but came away with nothing to show for it. Revere got things going with a leadoff single, stealing the first of his three bases on the next pitch. Syndergaard (8-3) then walked Jayson Werth and Bryce Harper to load the bases, just the second time in his career that he walked two batters in the same inning, according to SNY.
The long-haired righty coerced his former teammate Daniel Murphy to hit a ground ball at first baseman Loney, who handled it from his knees and threw home for a fielder’s choice. Wilson Ramos then grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Left fielder Brandon Nimmo lined a 95-mph sinking fastball into the right-centerfield gap for a single, his first big league hit. Travis d’Arnaud then singled up the middle with one out. Following a Syndergaard strikeout, Granderson (.109 with RISP coming into the at-bat) drove in Nimmo with a single to right to give the Mets a 2-0 advantage. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a walk, but Ross then struck out Yoenis Cespedes swinging.
Syndergaard seemed like his old self in the bottom of the second, striking out the side around a two-out single by Espinosa. That effectiveness wouldn’t last for long.
Ross (7-4), who had been leaving everything up in the zone in the first two frames, continued to do so to start the third. Walker led off the inning with a single to left followed by a Loney double deep into the right field corner, setting up runners on second and third with no outs. Wilmer Flores drove them both in with a line drive single to center, extending New York’s lead to 4-0. Nimmo then reached on his second hit, a soft infield single off the end of the bat, which prompted Washington manager Dusty Baker to pay his starter a visit.
After a flyout by d’Arnaud, which advanced Flores to third, Syndergaard bunted towards the mound in what appeared to be a safety squeeze attempt. Ross pounced quick enough to field the ball and toss to Ramos who applied the tag in time on the charging Flores. The Nationals starter would go on to retire nine in a row following the pep talk from his manager.
It all fell apart in the bottom of the third, as Washington broke through against Syndergaard even after he was staked to an early four-run lead. While lower-than-usual velocity was a concern in his last outing, Noah was hitting triple digits on the radar gun with ease on Monday. It was his slider that failed him in the second shortest start of his career, however, along with his slow, deliberate delivery that allowed Washington to run roughshod over Thor and his batterymate d’Arnaud.
“We’re trying to get it. That was one of the things he didn’t do tonight,” said Mets manager Terry Collins about the speed of Syndergaard’s delivery. “His times have been back down. His last two games he was sub-1.4 (seconds) to home plate and tonight he was 1.5 and up. I don’t know why. I just know that he was, and certainly those are issues because it came back to hurt him.”
Syndergaard was ejected from the game on May 28 vs. the Dodgers after only 2 1/3 innings for firing a pitch behind Chase Utley. He was pulled after three innings and 71 pitches on Monday night, allowing seven hits and five runs along with three walks.
Syndergaard dismissed rumors about a potential bone spur or chips in his elbow after the game.
“My arm feels great. It’s amazing what a little anti-inflammatory can do,” he said in a postgame interview. “There’s nothing structurally wrong with my elbow at all. Sometimes a little wear and tear will do that to you, but right now my arm feels really good.”
Revere led off the inning with another single and followed that with another stolen base. After Werth walked, Harper crushed a hanging breaking ball high off the wall in right field, scoring Revere for the Nationals’ first run of the game and missing a 3-run homer by just a few feet. Last year’s MVP then stole second, as the team continued to run at will on Syndergaard and d’Arnaud. Next, Murphy drove in Werth with a fielder’s choice to cut the lead in half at 4-2.
Ramos singled and would advance, along with Murphy, on a wild pitch during Ryan Zimmerman’s at-bat. Anthony Rendon followed with a ground ball single through the hole between first and second, plating two more runs and knotting the score at 4-all. He would then steal second and later score on an Espinosa single, giving Washington a 5-4 lead.
While Ross would settle in and finish with six innings of four-run ball leading to his seventh win of the season, the Nationals’ offense continued to tack on runs thanks in no small part part to New York’s poor pitching, sloppy mistakes, and the inability to hold runners.
Washington added a run in the fourth when Revere, who had singled and stolen second base for the third time in the game, scored on a Murphy RBI single against reliever Sean Gilmartin.
They went on to blow the game open in the fifth. Following Rendon’s one-out single, Espinosa doubled him in for his third hit of the night and the team’s seventh run. Ross then singled, advancing Espinosa to third and bringing up Revere. Revere grounded to Loney at first, who made a questionable choice by trying to cut the run off at home. His throw bounced in front of d’Arnaud, allowing Espinosa to extend the score to 8-4. Werth continued the onslaught with a double, scoring Ross and Revere.
Gilmartin allowed 5 runs and 7 hits in two innings, raising his ERA to 5.63. Rendon’s sacrifice fly in the sixth off of reliever Erik Goeddel, his third RBI of the game, wrapped up the scoring at 11-4.
The six stolen bases tie the most in one game since the Nationals moved to Washington in 2005.
Reinforcements on the Way
Four-time All-Star Jose Reyes, who signed a minor league deal with the Mets on Saturday, played in his second game for Class-A Brooklyn on Monday night. The 33-year-old batted leadoff and finished 0-for-2 with a walk. He also misplayed a popup at third base and was given an error on the play. Reyes is expected to join Double-A Binghamton in Altoona on Tuesday as he continues to work his way back to the big club.
Outfielder Juan Lagares, on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to June 15 with a sprained left thumb, will also be in Binghamton’s lineup as he begins a rehab assignment.
RHP Zack Wheeler resumed his rehab from Tommy John surgery, playing catch in front of General Manager Sandy Alderson in Port St. Lucie. The Mets are taking their time with the 26-year-old, according to Assistant GM John Ricco.
“Certainly we’re trying to win and we’re going to do everything we can to win,” Ricco said. “But to think that we would accelerate that for a guy who’s coming back from a pretty serious operation I don’t think would be smart.”
Cause for Concern
The team announced that LHP Steven Matz has been diagnosed with a bone spur in his left elbow and that his scheduled start on Wednesday is in jeopardy. The Long Island native is 7-3 with a 3.29 ERA in 13 starts this season. Tabbed by many as an early Rookie of the Year favorite after a solid first two months, Matz has struggled in June to the tune of a 5.91 ERA spanning four winless outings.
Photo credit: Tommy Gilligan – USA Today Sports