One night after pounding out one hit and failing to score against a Washington team that blasted five homers, the Mets unloaded nine hits.
Too bad seven were singles, two were doubles. Even worse, the Nationals unloaded three more homers. So the Mets even tried to run their way to a win. Again, not too successful as 2-of-3 base stealers were thrown out.
“We aren’t hitting the ball out of the ballpark so we got to do something to get in scoring position,” explained manager Terry Collins.
And unfortunately for the Mets, the Nationals are hitting the ball out of the ballpark. The eight homers in two games includes a game-icing two-run shot in the ninth Tuesday by ex-Met Scott Hairston as Washington registered a 6-3 victory at Citi Field.
The Nationals resumed their long-ball act blasting a homer in each of the first two innings as Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche did the honors against Dillon Gee (11-10).
“I wasn’t commanding the ball as well as I have been and you can’t get away with that against these guys. They make you pay,” said Gee who had allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his previous 10 starts, dating to July 14.
The Nationals just missed adding to their home-run count in the third. Werth drove a shot to the wall in center for a run-scoring double that pushed the Mets into a 3-0 hole. The Mets closed to within 3-1 on Justin Turner’s RBI single in the fourth, Washington went back at it against Gee in the sixth. Werth doubled for his third hit and eventually scored on Wilson Ramos’ two-out single.
Jordan Zimmerman (17-8), who took over the NL lead for wins, exited in the sixth after surrendering three straight hits, including Matt den Dekker’s two-run single. That hit followed a single by Lucas Duda and a double by Turner. Turner was replaced by Josh Satin after experiencing tightness in his right hamstring. Former Yankee Rafael Soriano picked up his 40th save.
“I was just going around third and the fourth or fifth step, I felt it tighten. I came in and the trainer said to shut it down,” said Turner (2-of-3) who indicated he will have an MRI exam done Wednesday. “I’ve never had any hamstring problems before.”
Den Dekker’s hit produced one of the bright moments of the night, and Collins said he likes much of what he has seen in the lefty hitter.
“Matt’s going to be a good player,” Collins said. “He’s got some power. I know he’s going to hit some homers. He can play some defense. The one thing we’ve got to get him to do is handle some left-handed pitching.”
Hope vanished in the ninth when Tim Byrdak replaced Frank Francisco with a man on and Hairston came in to pinch hit and drove his 10th homer to left.