Mets outslug NL East rival Nationals in homer-fest

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

The New York Mets and Washington Nationals are generally known for their excellent pitching. They showed Thursday not to discount their offensive abilities, either.

The teams combined to hit eight home runs Thursday, five of them in the fourth inning, as the Mets pulled out a 9-7 win. The eight home runs are a record for a single game at Citi Field.

Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon and Clint Robinson went deep for Washington while Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Travis d’Arnaud and Wilmer Flores had the home runs for New York.

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It was Flores’ three-run shot in the fifth inning that flipped the game in the Mets’ favor, giving them a 7-6 lead. Flores actually started the game on the bench, with Reyes starting at third base and Cabrera at shortstop, but entered in the top half of the fifth to play first base as part of a double switch. He certainly made his presence felt.

Nationals starter Lucas Giolito, widely regarded as the top prospect in baseball to start the year, did not have his best stuff. The 21-year-old right-hander pitched 3 2/3 innings with four earned runs against off seven hits and four walks and two of the Mets’ four homers.

New York is now three games behind Washington in the division and still holds the top wild-card spot in the National League.

TOP PERFORMERS

Rich Hill: If Hill is going to be moved by the Oakland Athletics before the trade deadline, he definitely enhanced his value with another great outing. Hill struck out 10 Houston Astros over six innings, allowing one run on three hits and two walks, in a 3-1 win. With a 9-3 record and a 2.25 ERA, the left-hander could be the player a contender needs to put them over the top.

Trevor Story: Story needs some help, and fast, if he’s going to win the NL Final Vote but he gave his candidacy a boost with a monster performance at the plate. The Colorado Rockies shortstop mashed two home runs and reached base four times with three hits and a walk to lead Colorado past the Philadelphia Phillies 11-2. Starling Marte currently leads the race to fill the final spot on the NL All-Star team.

Eduardo Nunez: Seven Minnesota Twins players had multi-hit games, including Nunez who had three hits and two walks, as they blasted the AL’s best team the Texas Rangers 10-1. That raises Nunez’s average to .321 and his on-base percentage to .349.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

Slowly but surely Troy Tulowitzki is coming around for the Toronto Blue Jays and he came through in a big spot for them in a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers to extend their winning streak to six games. Tulowitzki delivered a two-RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning to put Toronto in front. He had his struggles to start the season and dealt with a quad injury that kept him out three weeks, but it appears he’s heating up and that’s a great sign for a Blue Jays team intent on defending their AL East crown.

THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD

Angels 5, Rays 1: Hector Santiago pitched seven shutout innings, striking out nine, and Yunel Escobar had three hits in the leadoff spot.

Cardinals 5, Pirates 1: Adam Wainwright racked out nine strikeouts over seven innings of one-run ball and Stephen Piscotty hit a homer and drove in three runs.

Yankees 5, Indians 4: Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman combined to blank Cleveland over the final 3 2/3 innings.

Royals 4, Mariners 3: Salvador Perez was the big bat for Kansas City, picking up three hits, driving in two runs and scoring one himself.

Padres 6, Dodgers 0: Drew Pomeranz went seven innings, keeping Los Angeles off the board and allowing two hits and two walks while striking out six.

Braves 4, Cubs 3: Tyler Flowers brought home the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th with a single to right field.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr