WASHINGTON — Even in defeat, the Mets showed fight. But that didn’t make the sight of Willie Harris striking out to end last night’s game with the tying run at second base palatable.
The goal was to head into Philadelphia with a winning streak intact and momentum on their side. The Mets will have to start over in both categories after a 4-3 loss to the Nationals that snapped a six-game winning streak.
Harris whiffed against Drew Storen, exhausting the Mets’ final breath after Livan Hernandez pitched eight terrific innings against his former team.
“It hurts to lose this game,” Harris said. “They had the lead the entire game, but we felt like we had a chance.”
Hernandez (3-2) limited the Mets to three runs, two earned, on seven hits and one walk. The Mets had chances early and then watched the big right-hander get stronger as the game progressed.
“If I was a young pitcher and I wanted to learn how to pitch, that would be the guy I’d watch,” manager Terry Collins said. “It’s all about location, changing speeds, keeping everybody off balance and he does a great job doing it.”
It came on the same day news surfaced that the 36-year-old Hernandez is under investigation for his alleged ties to a convicted drug dealer. But Hernandez certainly didn’t seem affected on the mound.
“He just looks like he’s out there having fun,” said Harris, who was Hernandez’s teammate with the Nationals. “He knows what he is doing on the mound.”
The best that could be said of Mets starter Chris Capuano was he didn’t walk anybody last night. But the lefty allowed 10 hits and four earned runs over 5 2/3 innings, a far cry from the one-run gem he pitched over seven innings against the Astros last week.
The Mets scrapped and pulled within 4-3 on Ike Davis’ RBI double in the sixth, but couldn’t finish the job. Jose Reyes was thrown out by Pudge Rodriguez attempting to steal second to end the seventh inning, and the Mets never got pinch runner Chin-lung Hu home from second in the ninth after Josh Thole’s single with two outs.
Capuano allowed two runs in the fourth, giving the Nationals a 3-1 lead. After Ian Desmond tripled with one out, Jerry Hairston Jr. delivered an RBI single. Rodriguez’s single then moved Hairston to third, and Hernandez bunted. Thole fielded the bunt and went for the play at the plate and missed. Though Hernandez may have possibly obstructed Thole on the play, the Mets didn’t argue.
“If there was one play we would like to have back, I think it would be that one,” Thole said, noting that plate umpire Brian Runge told him Hernandez didn’t deliberately impede the catcher on the play.
After the Mets had pulled within 3-2 on Reyes’ sacrifice fly in the fifth, Desmond launched a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the inning.
“I thought even giving up those three runs in the four innings we were still right there in the game,” Capuano said. “The one thing if I had back it would be the pitch Desmond hit out. I thought I could have made a better pitch there.”
Now comes a second trip to Philadelphia in three weeks — with Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee slated to pitch tomorrow and Sunday, respectively.
“They are just another team — albeit a very good one,” Jason Bay said. “We’re playing better now and hopefully that has a little momentum on our side.”