Nats settle for series split after blowout loss to Mets

Already possessing an impressive 9-6 record at home against high-quality opponents, the Nationals entered today’s finale against the Mets looking to put the cherry on top of an encouraging homestand.

With two dramatic, come-from-behind wins over the weekend, they had already secured at least a split of this four-game, wraparound series. But one more win, ideally without needing late-inning rallies, would give them three victories in four games against the team with the best record in baseball.

Unfortunately, the Nats fell behind again. And unlike Friday and Sunday, there were no theatrics in this 19-5 blowout loss to the Mets in front of an announced crowd of 14,011 on a sunny afternoon in the District.

“It was a good game til it wasn't,” manager Davey Martinez said after the loss. “The bullpen came in and had a rough day today. But we had our chances early offensively. Just once again, as I always say, when we chase, nothing good comes out of it. So we got to stop chasing, especially with guys on base. We gotta get good pitches to hit. When we do that, we're pretty good.”

The Nationals' offense, which combined to score 13 runs and collect 29 hits over the first three games, once again had no issues creating scoring chances. But the bats looked more like the ones that were shut out 2-0 on Saturday instead of the ones that put up hard-fought rallies Friday and Sunday.

Against right-hander Griffin Canning, the Nats were able to get at least one runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings. But they went 0-for-7 in those situations while leaving six men on base.

“We got some guys on to give us a chance when it was still close,” said Jacob Young. “We just weren't able to come through with that hit when we needed it in those moments. I thought we did a good job early, just getting on base and kind of finding different ways to do that. Just when we needed a hit, we weren't able to get it early.”

On the mound, the home side got what they’ve come to expect from Trevor Williams. The right-hander completed five strong innings while only giving up three runs. But when he took the mound in the sixth for the first time this season, the wheels started to come off the rails.

Three straight hits and a sac fly off Williams gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the second. Nothing to be too concerned about. Jeff McNeil then hit his first homer of the year on the first pitch from Williams (an 86.5 mph fastball) in the fifth inning. Solo shots don’t kill you.

But the runs started to pile on from there, and eventually buried the Nats.

Williams issued two walks with one out in the sixth. At 99 pitches, manager Davey Martinez went to his bullpen and brought in Colin Poche to try to keep it a three-run game. Instead, he let the Mets double their lead by serving up a three-run home run to Brandon Nimmo.

“I think we did a good job today of mixing speeds,” Williams said. “Staying in the strike zone, attacking early. Pitching the fourth game of a series you kind of get a really good look at what they're trying to do. And we had some really good fought games this whole series. We attacked the strike zone really well.

“Unfortunately, at the end, it was the back-to-back walks that took me out of the game. And it's something that can't happen. I need to do a better job of finishing the sixth, and especially with guys in our bullpen that were used a lot this series. It's on me that I need to finish that sixth inning and turn it over to the bullpen from there.”

The left-hander, who hadn’t been charged with a run over his last three appearances, now sports a 12.91 ERA and 2.870 WHIP in just 7 ⅔ innings.

“He just fell behind,” Martinez said of Poche. “That's the biggest thing: He's got to get ahead of hitters. He's been really good against left-handed batters, that's what we need him for. After that, he threw the ball. But we need him to get left-handed hitters out.”

The troubles didn’t stop there, however. Cole Henry suffered through the first difficult outing of his young major league career, giving up five runs – including a grand slam to Nimmo – in the seventh.

Eduardo Salazar came in for mop-up duty and surrendered four more runs – including the eighth and ninth RBIs of the day for Nimmo – in the eighth.

Over that three-inning stretch, Nimmo went 3-for-3 with runners in scoring position and recorded all nine of his RBIs. The Nats offense finished the day 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position while leaving 10 runners on base.

The only silver lining against the Mets bullpen – a five-run rally in the bottom of the eighth that included solo shots by James Wood (his ninth) and Nathaniel Lowe (his fifth) – was far too little and far too late. This laugher ended with infielder Amed Rosario pitching the ninth and giving up four more runs to make the 19 total tied for the second-most in Nats team history.

But despite how ugly it turned, it’s just one loss. The Nats can still find solace in the fact that they’re 2-2 against the best team in baseball, already matching their total wins against their division rivals from last year.

“Overall, we had a good homestand,” the skipper said. “We battled against a really good team and came out with two wins. We're heading to Philly, another good team. So we'll bounce back and play again tomorrow.”

“We're never out of it,” Young said. “Obviously, they're in first place in the division right now, and we took two out of (four) from them. We protected our home turf there a little bit. We would have loved to win the series there and take that to Philly. But a series tie going to Philly is also great. So just finding ways to build on that and continue to win division games.”