Nats 9th inning rally falls short; Mets win 9-7
Shairon Martis, making his first career start, third overall, in front of the home town crowd, didn't give the Nationals' fans much to cheer about. He lasted just three innings and allowed six runs on five hits and two walks in the Mets 9-7 win.
Martis, who looked like a seasoned veteran in his two previous starts, gave up three home runs, two solo shots in the first, and was never able to recover. He is now 0-3 in his brief Major League career.
New York, who has had bullpen issues all season, made things interesting in the last of the ninth.
Lastings Milledge reached base on David Wright's throwing error and Joe Smith walked Elijah Dukes to start the inning. Pedro Feliciano was brought in and he got pinch-hitter Anderson Hernandez to ground out to first, but both runners advanced.
Emilio Bonifacio hit a one-hopper back to the mound and Feliciano looked Milledge back to third before firing to first for the second out. Wil Nieves singled to right-center, scoring two and making it a 9-7 game. Both runs were unearned.
Former National Luis Ayala came in to close the door and he did just that, striking out pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina to end the game. It was Ayala's nine save of the season.
For a team who was blanked last night and scored only two runs in the series opener on Monday night, New York took out their frustrations on the rookie right-hander.
Jose Reyes led off the game with a solo blast to right-center. It was his 15th of the year and 13th career lead-off home run. Two outs later, Carlos Delgado destroyed a 0-2 curveball and hit it over the wall in center field, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Martis retired the side in order in the second and entered the third with a 2-1 deficit thanks to Kory Casto's RBI double in the second, but the third was a complete nightmare. Reyes walked and stole second to start the inning. He would score on Daniel Murphy's RBI triple to make it a 3-1
One out later, with the infield in, Delgado singled off the glove of Emilio Bonifacio, scoring Murphy for the 4-1 Mets lead. Next batter, Carlos Beltran, 0-7 with two walks in the series, hammered a 1-1 fastball into the seats in right and New York built a 6-1 lead, ending Martis' night.
Former starter Jason Bergmann came on in the fourth, his only inning of work, and was supposed to keep the Mets off the scoreboard. He didn't.
Former teammate Brian Schneider greeted Bergmann with a double. After starter Brandon Knight sacrificed him to third, Reyes singled him home and the Mets led 7-1.
Washington had a chance to cut the six-run lead down to four runs and possibly more in the home half of the inning.
With two outs, Knight walked Dukes and Casto. Bonifacio singled home Dukes to make it a 7-2 game. Wil Nieves singled to load the bases, but pinch-hitter Ryan Langerhans grounded out to second to end the inning.
Trailing 8-2 in the sixth and with Knight out of the game, the Nationals' got an RBI single off the bat of pinch-hitter Alberto Gonzalez. Bonifacio singled off reliever Ricardo Rincon with one-out and scored on Gonzalez's 12th base hit as a National.
Gonzalez made a major base running blunder to end the chance for more runs in the inning. After a wild pitch moved him to second, Willie Harris walked. For some reason, Gonzalez took off for third and was gunned down for the final out of the inning.
Dukes got the Nationals within three runs, 8-5, in the seventh with his 13th homer of the season, a two-run shot, deep to left field, off Brian Stokes.
Unfortunately, Charlie Manning gave one run back in the eight, when Beltran, batting right-handed, hit his second long ball of the night to make it 9-5. It was the sixth time in his career that he hit a home run from both sides of the plate and third time as a Met.
Washington mounted what they thought was going to be a rally in the eight, but they couldn't capitalize. Aaron Heilman gave up a double, to Nieves and a bloop single to pinch-hitter Aaron Boone to start the inning.
Scott Schoeneweis took over and struck out Willie Harris and got Cristian Guzman to line out to right before being replaced by Joe Smith. Smith, facing Ryan Zimmerman, got him to fly out to deep center to end the inning.
Postgame Notes
Wil Nieves had his first career three-hit game, going 3-5 with two RBI.
With a seventh inning, 2-run homer, Elijah Dukes is batting .307 with 14 doubles, 13 homers, 41 RBI, 36 walks and a .412 on-base percentage in 60 games snice May 24th.
Cristian Guzman, 2-5 Wednesday night, is hitting .444 in his last 19 games
Alberto Gonzalez raised his average to .428 (12-28), with a pinch-hit single, since joining the Nationals' on August 1st.
Nationals pinch-hitters went 2-6 on the night with an RBI.
Final Linescore
Mets 9-10-1
Nationals 7-14-0
WP-Knight (1-0)
LP-Martis (0-3)
SV-Ayala (9)
HR-Reyes (15), Delgado (36), Beltran 2 (26), Dukes (13)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Mets scoring, 8th inning
Carlos Beltran, who homered earlier in the game, led off the eighth with his second tater of the night, this one off Charlie Manning, to put New York up 9-5. It was the third multi-home run game of the season and 23rd of his career.
Nationals scoring, 7th inning
Elijah Dukes two-run home run off reliever Brian Stokes, pulled the Nationals to within three runs, 8-5 in the seventh.
Dukes crushed his 13th dinger of the season, to left field, scoring Cristian Guzman, who led off with a single.
Nationals scoring, 6th inning
The Nationals' had a golden chance to get right back in the game in the fourth, but only came away with one run.
Emilio Bonifacio's two-out, RBI single made it a 7-2 game. After Wil Nieves singled, to load the bases, pinch-hitter Ryan Langerhans rolled over on a curve ball and grounded out weakly to second to end the mini-rally.
Mets scoring, 4th inning
Clearly it doesn't matter who is pitching for the Nationals tonight. After Shairon Martis was pulled after three lousy innings, Jason Bergmann came in and gave up a run to make it a 7-1 game in the fourth.
Former teammate Brian Schneider lead-off with a double off the glove of left fielder Willie Harris. Mets starter Brandon Knight sacrificed Schneider to third and he scored on Jose Reyes' single to right.
Martis done after 3 innings
Shairon doesn't look like the same pitcher who only allowed four runs, three earned, in his previous two starts. He's allowed six runs on five hits and two walks. He surrendered three homers and he threw 71 pitches, just 38 for strikes. He didn't seem to have control like he did in the last two outings and the Mets are made him pay and his night is over. His ERA jumped from a 2.70 to 6.23.
3 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 3 HR.
Mets scoring, 3rd inning
Daniel Murphy, who is getting the start in left field after Fernando Tatis' season ended last night with a separated shoulder, tripled home Jose Reyes to give the Mets a two-run advantage again.
Reyes walked to lead-off the inning, stole second and scored easily on Murphy's second triple of the season. After David Wright grounded out, with the infield in, Carlos Delgado singled off the glove of Emilio Bonifacio for the 4-1 lead. Carlos Beltran followed with a two-run blast to right to put NY up 6-1.
Nationals scoring, 2nd inning
Kory Casto's double scored Lasting Milledge to cut the Mets lead in half, at 2-1, in the second.
Milledge led off with a infield single to third and scored on Casto's double to the gap in right-center. It was his ninth two-bagger of the season and 14th RBI. Emilio Bonifacio hit a lined right at center fielder Carlos Beltran and Casto was doubled off second to end the inning.
Nats 2009 schedule is out
The Nationals will begin the 2009 campaign in Florida against the Marlins on Monday April 6 for a three-game series. Their home opener is Monday April 13 vs. the Phillies.
Interleague action has Washington playing a home and home series with the Orioles beginning with a three-game set at Nationals Park on 5/22-5/24 and at Camden Yards 6/26-6/28.
The Nationals' will also travel to Tampa Bay, 6/12-6/14, and NY Yankees, 6/16-6/18. Coming to DC for Interleague action are the Blue Jays, 6/19-6/21, Red Sox, 6 2/3-6/25.
The All-Star game is in St. Louis on Tuesday July 14. Washington finishes the season on the road in Atlanta from October 1-4
Mets scoring, 1st inning
After getting shutout last night, it didn't take the Mets long to get on the board tonight against rookie Shairon Martis.
Jose Reyes led off the first with his 15th homer of the season. Reyes sat on a 3-1 fastball and hit it over the out of town scoreboard in right-center. After Martis struck out Danile Murphy and David Wright, Carlos Delgado crushed his 36th of the season, to dead center field, and the Mets have a 2-0 lead.
Starting Line-Ups
Mets
SS Jose Reyes
LF Daniel Murphy
3B David Wright
1B Carlos Delgado
CF Carlos Beltran
RF Ryan Church
2B Argenis Reyes
C Brian Schneider
P Brandon Knight
Nationals
LF Willie Harris
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
CF Lastings Milledge
RF Elijah Dukes
1B Kory Casto
2B Emilio Bonifacio
C Wil Nieves
P Shairon Martis
Game Preview
New York (83-67) at Nationals (58-93)
After Monday's night's 7-2 win over the Mets, manager Manny Acta said "We are not spoilers. We are the Washington Nationals." Well, the Nationals are playing like spoilers.
Tuesday night, Odalis Perez tossed 7 1/3 innings of four-hit, shutout ball and Michael Hinckley and Joel Hanrahan blanked New York over the final 1 2/3 innings to nail down the 1-0 win, Washington's second straight victory.
The loss, coupled with a Phillies win in Atlanta, leaves the Mets a half-game out of first in the NL East, but they are a half-game in front of the Brewers in the Wild Card race.
The win gives the Nationals 10 victories in their last 11 games at Nationals Park and their eighth shutout win this season.
With a win tonight, Washington will take the four-game series from New York and improve to 10-7 in the season series, with one game remaining.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Shairon Martis (0-2, 2.70) looked much more confident and in control in his most recent start than he did in his Major League debut.
Martis allowed one run on two hits while striking out nine in the first five innings against the Marlins last Friday at Dolphin Stadium.
In the sixth, the first three Marlins reached base via two walks and an error and Martis' day was over. Dan Uggla's single gave Florida an unearned run, but it was enough for the 2-1 win and handed Martis his second straight loss.
Tonight, the rookie right-hander makes his first career start against the Mets.
RHP Brandon Knight (0-0, 6.43) is making his second career start, third appearance, tonight. Knight made his Major League starting debut on July 26th vs. St. Louis and had a no-decision.
He worked five innings, surrendered seven hits and four runs with two walks and four strikeouts in the Cardinals 10-8 win.
He pitched in relief on September 9th vs. Washington, tossing 1.0 inning, permitting one hit and one run with one walk in the Mets 10-8 victory. That was Knight's only career appearance against the Nationals
In his only other appearance this season, Knight worked a scoreless inning with one strike out against Philadelphia on September 7th.
Knight was a member of Team USA's bronze medal Olympic baseball team in Beijing, China. He went 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA in two Olympic starts.
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