Mets takeaways from Tuesday's 11-5 win over Nationals, including an impressive power display
The Mets defeated the Washington Nationals 11-5 in the series opener of a two-game set on Tuesday night.
Here are some takeaways...
- After not giving Jose Quintana much run support over his first few outings, the left-hander received plenty tonight as the Mets jumped on Patrick Corbin early and often. After Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor led off the game with back-to-back singles, a Jeff McNeil sacrifice bunt followed by a Pete Alonso sacrifice fly generated the first run of the game.
Two batters later, with runners on the corners, Francisco Alvarez crushed a 419-foot three-run home run that left the bat at 108.9 mph. It was his 22nd of the season and his first since Aug. 1 against the Royals, snapping a stretch of 76 at-bats without one.
- The Mets' offense tacked on again in the third, as Lindor crushed a solo home run to make it a 5-1 ballgame. The star shortstop, who reached base twice on the night, is now up to 26 long balls, 82 RBI and a .901 OPS on the season.
After Mark Vientos picked up his first-career triple and Alvarez drew a four-pitch walk to keep the inning going, and stole his first major league base, Brett Baty dunked a two-out, two-strike opposite field two-run single over the third baseman's head, making it 7-1 after three.
- New York continued to add on in the fourth, as Nimmo launched a solo shot into the right-field bullpen. He picked up his second of night and 23rd of the season later in the game, putting things away for good. The outfielder now has two multi-homer games this season and he's hitting a scorching .393 with a 1.343 OPS over his current seven-game hitting streak.
- It was Alonso's time to strike in the fifth, as he crushed a solo shot of his own, this one against right-hander Andres Machado. The big man now has three over his last two games and is up to 42 on the season, two behind Shohei Ohtani and Matt Olson for the most in baseball.
- Quintana was a bit shaky early, allowing the Nationals to get on the board just two batters into the game on a Joey Meneses run-scoring single. He needed 28 pitches to get through the second but was able to put up a zero and settled in after that. The left-hander worked efficiently and effectively through the middle innings, including a stretch of retiring six batters in a row in the fourth and fifth.
Quintana came back out for the seventh for the first time this season and put together a sixth straight scoreless inning of work. After allowing back-to-back hits leading off the bottom of the first, he give up just two hits the rest of the game, earning his second win as a Mets with seven terrific innings of one-run ball.
- After going hitless in his first three at-bats, Ronny Mauricio picked up his first big-league RBI with a single in the top of the eighth. He became just the 11th player in franchise history to start their career with a four-game hitting streak or better.
- Sam Coonrod entered behind Quintana and struggled to find the zone in his return to the big-league level. He was pulled after facing five batters and not recoding an out while walking in two runs. Sean Reid-Foley came on and let three more runs come in, allowing Washington to cut the lead in half. Drew Smith tossed the ninth and was able to secure the win.
- With Vientos, Alvarez, Baty, and Mauricio all in the same lineup for the first-time in their MLB careers, the Mets offense broke out for 11 runs on 11 hits. That group combined to hit for the cycle, reached base a total of seven times, scored five runs, and drove in six.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Mets and Nationals finish their quick two-game set on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. on SNY.
Jose Butto (0-2, 4.30 ERA) will take the ball for the Mets in place of the injured Carlos Carrasco against Washington right-hander Joan Adon (2-1, 5.90 ERA).
