WASHINGTON — Edwin Jackson pitched seven effective innings, Adam LaRoche hit a three-run homer and the Washington Nationals beat the Mets 5-3 on Wednesday night.
Jackson (2-3) allowed three runs, two earned, and three hits to earn his first win since April 14 against Cincinnati. The right-hander was 0-3 with a 3.33 ERA in his previous eight starts.
Sean Burnett pitched a perfect eighth and Tyler Clippard worked the ninth for his fifth save in six chances, completing a three-hitter.
Lucas Duda drove in a run and walked twice for New York, which has lost three straight. David Wright, Ike Davis and Kirk Nieuwenhuis had the Mets’ only hits.
LaRoche got the first-place Nationals off to a fast start, belting his ninth homer in the first inning against Jeremy Hefner (1-3). Bryce Harper reached on an error by second baseman Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman walked before LaRoche hit a drive into the right-field bullpen.
LaRoche also drove in the Nationals’ final run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
The Mets got on the board in the third. Omar Quintanilla reached on a leadoff walk, advanced on Hefner’s sacrifice and scored on Nieuwenhuis’ single.
Wright singled and scored on Duda’s groundout in the fourth and Quintanilla had a run-scoring bouncer in the seventh but that was it against Jackson, who struck out six and walked four.
Hefner allowed four runs, three earned, and seven hits in six innings.
Michael Morse also had an RBI single in the fifth for Washington.
NOTES: The Mets reactivated OF Jason Bay from the 15-day disabled list. Bay had been sidelined with a fractured rib since April 23. He did not start, but manager Terry Collins said he would play on Thursday afternoon. RHP Chris Young, who started on Tuesday for the first time in more than a year, went on the paternity list. RHP Pedro Beato was reinstated from the DL. He hadn’t pitched this year with shoulder stiffness. INF Josh Satin was designated for assignment. … Mets INF Ruben Tejada, on the disabled list with a strained right quad, is back in New York for an exam, one day after he took himself out of a minor league game when the quad tightened up. … Nationals manager Davey Johnson said Morse, who played his fourth game after returning from a strained back muscle, likely would DH when the team plays at Boston on Friday. … The Mets are scheduled to send RHP R.A. Dickey (8-1, 2.69 ERA) to the mound against Washington RHP Chien-Ming Wang (1-1, 6.43) on Thursday afternoon.