Not even the Mets bullpen could give this one away.
One night after a terrible meltdown loss to the Nationals, the Mets bounced back and defeated Washington 5-1 Saturday afternoon at Citi Field. The Mets put together a rare complete performance with strong starting pitching from Dillon Gee, some timely hitting and three shutout innings from the bullpen.
Gee, pitching for the first time in a week, threw six innings of one-run baseball. He was coming off a terrible outing in Philadelphia a week ago when he allowed three home runs. Gee is dealing with flexor tendonitis and the Mets gave him an extra two days of rest before the start against the Nationals.
As the sandwich act between Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, Gee improved to 6-7 and worked his way out of trouble against the Nationals. He pitched six innings, allowing six hits and one run while walking three and striking out four.
Washington scored its only run in the fourth inning when Kurt Suzuki knocked in Roger Bernadina to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead.
Nationals starting pitcher Taylor Jordan was making his Major League debut. He had not pitched higher than Double-A before Saturday. It took a while for the Mets to get to him, but they eventually did.
John Buck tied the game at 1-1 with a base hit to left that knocked in Marlon Byrd. The Mets took the lead in the fifth on a bizarre play. Byrd hit a grounder that went off third baseman Ryan Zimmerman’s glove. Daniel Murphy advanced from second to third on the error and then scored when Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond picked up the ball and tried to throw Murphy out at third. Instead, the ball hit Murphy and ricocheted into foul territory, allowing Murphy to come home and give the Mets a 2-1 lead. A sacrifice fly from Kirk Nieuwenhuis pushed Byrd home to extend the lead.
The Mets tacked on two more runs in the sixth and that was all they would need. Murphy led the way for the Mets, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
The bullpen, which blew the game for Harvey on Friday night, was spotless Saturday. Carlos Torres pitched two scoreless innings, striking out the side in the eighth inning.