Nats fall 7-2; Redding only lasts three innings
Six innings! That's the total innings pitched by Nationals starters the last two nights against the Mets. Last night, Shairon Martis lasted three innings and gave up six runs on five hits and Washington lost 9-7.
Tonight, Tim Redding matched him in innings, but gave up one fewer run. New York scored five runs, four earned, on seven hits, denying Redding his career-high 11th win of the season.
Johan Santana tossed seven innings of one-run ball to earn his 14th win of the season. He scattered eight hits, struck out eight and walked two. The 7-2 win gives the Mets a 12-6 record against their NL East foe and a 6-3 record at Nationals Park this season.
Former Nationals Brian Schneider and Ryan Church did most of the damage against their former team. Schneider hit two home runs, both solo shots and Church drove in two with RBI singles in the third and fifth.
Redding got into trouble right from the start. Jose Reyes led off with a double and scored on Daniel Murphy's single and two-base error on Lastings Milledge. Murphy lined a ball to center that froze Milledge. By the time he decided what to do, the ball dropped in front of him, then skipped by and went to the wall scoring Reyes.
Schneider hit a two-out solo homer in the second, his eighth of the season, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. Santana followed with a double to center and Reyes singled home Santana for the 3-0 advantage.
Redding ran into more two-out trouble in the third. He walked Carlos Delgado and gave up a RBI triple to Carlos Beltran. One could argue the Elijah Dukes could have caught the ball with his back against the scoreboard in right field.
Church's clean single to right scored Beltran for the 5-0 lead and Redding was finished when the Nationals' came to bat in the bottom of the third.
Jason Bergmann replaced Redding to start the fourth and he was greeted by his former teammate, Schneider, with a solo blast into the bullpen in right for the 6-0 lead. It was his second multi-homer game of his career and first since April 19, 2003 against the Reds.
Washington had a chance to get on the board against Santana in the fourth, but came away empty. Cristian Guzman led off with a single and moved to second on a two-out walk to Dukes. Aaron Boone hit an infield single, but Willie Harris struck out to end the inning.
New York got to Bergmann in the fifth when Delgado doubled and Church drove him home with his second RBI single of the night.
The Nationals had another good opportunity to get to Santana in the sixth, but once again, the Mets staff ace kept them from scoring.
Guzman, again, led off with a single and he moved to second on Ryan Zimmerman's single. Milledge grounded into a force out to put runners on the corners, but Santana struck out Dukes and got Boone to ground out to third.
Washington finally got to Santana, but it wasn't nearly enough to put a scare into the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
Wil Nieves singled with one-out in the seventh and moved to second when pinch-hitter Luke Montz walked. Anderson Hernandez doubled to right, scoring Nieves to make it 7-1. Santana got Milledge to pop out to second and Zimmerman to fly out to right.
Wil Nieves singled home a run in the eight off reliever Joe Smith to make it a 7-2 game. Nieves has three RBI in his last two games.
Postgame Notes
Cristian Guzman collected two more hits to raise his average to .316. He now has four straight multi-hit games and 2+ in 15 of his last 20.
Ryan Zimmerman, 0-8 the last two nights, went 3-5 and has hit safely in 19 of 22 games at a .340 clip.
Elijah Dukes went 2-3 with a walk. He has reached base in 10 of 11 games; 13 hits, 8 BB, HBP.
Wil Nieves, who went 2-4 with an RBI, is batting .316 with 5 RBI in 11 games as the primary catcher since Jesus Flores got injured.
Johan Santana improved to 6-0 with seven no-decisions since the All-Star break.
Clubhouse Audio: Lastings Milledge discusses his error in the Nats 7-2 loss to the Mets
Final Linescore
Mets 7-11-0
Nationals 2-13-1
WP-Santana (14-7)
LP-Redding (10-10)
HR-Schneider 2 (9)
Pete McElroy's Live Gameblog
Nationals scoring, 8th inning
Wil Nieves, who had two hits on the night, drove home Elijah Dukes, also with two hits, to make it a 7-2 game.
Nationals scoring, 7th inning
Anderson Hernandez doubled home Wil Nieves to finally get a run off Johan Santana.
With one-out, Nieves singled and moved to second when pinch-hitter Luke Montz walked. Hernandez doubled down the line in right to make it a 7-1 game, but that's all they could get off the left-hander.
Mets scoring, 5th inning
Ryan Church has struck again! His RBI single, in the fifth, drove in Carlos Delgado, who doubled to lead-off the inning, putting the Mets up by a touchdown, 7-0.
Church singled off Jason Bergmann for his second RBI on the night. Bergmann was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the inning. He gave up two runs on three hits in his two innings out of the bullpen.
Mets scoring, 4th inning
That was a rude way to greet your former teammate.
Brian Schneider hit Jason Bergmann's first pitch into the Nationals' bullpen, in right field, to give the Mets a 6-0 lead. Bergmann, who replaced an ineffective Tim Redding, gave up Schneider's second long ball of the game.
Redding's short night
Redding, like Shairon Martis last night, only lasted three innings before being replaced by a pinch-hitter. Tim gave up five runs, four earned, on seven hits. He struck out two and walked one. It was the shortest outing of the season for the veteran right-hander. It didn't look like he had command of the strike zone and the Mets teed off on him at will.
3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, BB, 2 K, HR. 62 pitches, 40 strikes
Mets scoring, 3rd inning
Carlos Beltran tripled home Carlos Delgado, who walked with two outs, to give the Mets a 4-0 lead. Elijah Dukes, back against the wall, jumped for the ball, but couldn't come away with the catch.
Former National Ryan Church drove in Beltran with a RBI single to make it 5-0.
Mets scoring, 2nd inning
New York has come out swinging the bats and they are pounding Tim Redding early in the series finale.
Brian Schneider hit a two-out solo homer to put the Mets up 2-0. New York's starter Johan Santana followed with a double and he scored on Jose Reyes' single to make it 3-0.
Mets scoring, 1st inning
Jose Reyes, who lead-off last night's game with a home run, got the Mets started with a double tonight.
Daniel Murphy hit a sinking liner to center that froze Lastings Milledge. By the time Milledge made a move on the ball, it short-hopped and got by him, allowing Reyes to score. It was ruled a single and two-base error, making the run unearned.
Tim Redding left Murphy on third when he got a strike out and two pop outs.
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 Johan Santana
Nationals
2B Anderson Hernandez
SS Cristian Guzman
3B Ryan Zimmerman
CF Lastings Milledge
RF Elijah Dukes
1B Aaron Boone
LF Willie Harris
C Wil Nieves
P Tim Redding
Game Preview
New York (84-67) at Nationals (58-94)
With last nights 9-7 set-back, the Nationals lost for the just the second time in their last 12 games at Nationals Park.
Rookie right-hander Shairon Martis was rocked for six runs on five hits and two walks in three innings. Three of the hits were home runs which led to four runs.
Washington scored five runs off the Mets bullpen, but they fell short in their come-back bid when former National Luis Ayala struck out Roger Bernadina with a runner on first to end the game.
New York snapped a their three-game losing streak to remain a half-game behind the Phillies in the NL East and a half-game ahead of the Brewers in the Wild Card.
In the series finale tonight, Tim Redding looks for his career best 11th win. The Mets send staff ace Johan Santana to even the four-game series.
Pitching Match-Up
RHP Tim Redding (10-9, 4.54) had a rough start in his last outing, giving up two, two-run homers in the first two innings against the Marlins last Saturday night at Dolphin Stadium.
Jorge Cantu's blast in the first put Florida up 2-0. Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run bomb in the second and Redding fell behind 4-0 and the Nationals' couldn't recover, losing 4-2.
The veteran right-hander settled down and gave up two hits over the next four innings and set a new career high for innings pitched in a season with 176 1/3.
Redding is making his third start against the Mets this season. He's 1-1 with a 3.27 ERA. In his last start against New York, May 14th at Shea Stadium, Redding allowed one run on two hits in six innings to earn the win in the Nationals 5-3 victory.
In his career vs. the Mets, Redding is 2-1 with a 3.79 ERA in eight games, seven starts. He is trying for the third time to win his 11th game, which would be a career high, but it won't be easy.
Since the All-Star break, 11 starts, He is 3-6 with a 5.84 ERA. Prior to the mid-summer classic, Redding was 7-3 with a 3.85 ERA. That's a full two runs higher.
LHP Johan Santana (13-7, 2.70), who hasn't lost since June 28th, 14 starts, has only one win in his last four outings due to a shaky bullpen. In those 14 games, Santana is 6-0 and the Mets are 10-4.
In his last game, Santana left the game after giving up two straight hits to start the eighth against the Braves at Shea Stadium. The bullpen allowed both runners to score and the lefty settled for a no-decision in the Braves 3-2 win.
Santana is making his third start against the Nationals this season, first at Nationals Park. He's 2-0 with a 3.21 ERA. In his last outing vs. Washington, August 12th, he gave up three runs on eight hits in seven strong innings in the Mets 4-3 victory.
In four career starts against the Nationals, Santana is 3-1 with a 2.79 ERA. The veteran left-hander is making his 17th road start compared to 15 at home. He's 6-4 with a 3.11 ERA away from Shea and 7-3 with a 2.26 in Flushing.
The former Cy Young winner has 25 quality starts in 31 games this year, including 11 in a row.
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