Jacob deGrom held the Washington Nationals in check for six innings before a six-run eighth inning gave the New York Mets a rare series win.
The New York Mets employed a classic formula on Wednesday night. They watched Jacob deGrom pitch lights out, but failed to reciprocate offensively. Once he left, however, the franchise staple got help from the team’s newest member.
Six runs in the eighth inning took the fight out of the Washington Nationals, and the Mets earned a 6-1 victory at Citi Field. With wins in three of the first four games against Washington, the Mets (23-25) have won their first series longer than two games since April 22-24.
deGrom recovered nicely from a poor outing in Miami last Friday. He pitched six innings of two-hit ball, with the lone flaw coming on the second batter of the game. Adam Eaton hit a solo home run, but deGrom went on to retire the next 11 Washington batters. He would go six innings and allow only one more hit, striking out eight.
Got 'em looking.@JdeGrom19 doing @JdeGrom19 things. ? pic.twitter.com/Kp4Pih5ATE
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 23, 2019
Countering deGrom was fellow Cy Young Award winner trapped in a dire situation, Max Scherzer. The three-time winner also went six, shutting out the Mets and allowing just four hits, sitting down nine Mets via strikeout.
Max Scherzer takes advantage of a blindfolded Tomas Nido. pic.twitter.com/ha2zFW2JDg
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 23, 2019
The Mets finally made their move against Kyle Barraclough (L, 0-1) and Sean Doolittle in the penultimate inning. Barraclough was able to strike out J.D. Davis before Adeiny Hechavarría began the rally with a double. Pete Alonso grounded out, but a walk to Todd Fraizer began a run of five consecutive Mets getting on base with two outs to complete the mini-comeback.
Doolittle hit Carlos Gomez with a pitch upon entry. One batter later, Juan Lagares sent them all home with a three-run double that gave the Mets the permanent lead. After pinch hitter Wilson Ramos was given the pass to first, Rajai Davis came in at the pitcher’s spot for Drew Gagnon (W, 3-0). In his first at-bat of both the season and his Mets career, Davis hit a three-run homer to double their run total at 6-1. The deflated Nationals (19-30) were shut out in the ninth by Tyler Bashlor.
BIG CLUTCH pic.twitter.com/YXICrdKofu
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 23, 2019
First career at-bat in a #Mets uniform.@rajai11davis delivers in a BIG way. pic.twitter.com/tDMqswYnxe
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 23, 2019
The home run completed quite the day for the veteran Davis. The 38-year-old outfielder joined the Mets on a minor-league deal in December and got the call-up to Queens after Brandon Nimmo (neck) was placed on the injured list. Davis arrived at Citi Field during the third inning and served as one of the Mets’ offensive heroes five frames later.
The Mets will go for a sweep of the Nationals tomorrow afternoon (12:10 p.m. ET, SNY). Steven Matz (3-3, 3.96 ERA) will go up against Stephen Strasburg (4-3, 3.32 ERA).
