The New York Mets look to build on one of their most dramatic wins of the season when they open a four-game series at the Washington Nationals on Monday.
Tyrone Taylor belted a three-run homer in the ninth inning Sunday, and Carson Benge’s infield grounder up the middle in the bottom of the 10th scored Marcus Semien for a 7-6 win over the New York Yankees.
The Mets had lost 91 straight games when trailing after eight innings, with the last win coming in the 2024 National League wild-card round of the playoffs.
The Mets took two of three games in the Subway Series and went 5-1 on their homestand.
“We know that we’ve got to start playing better, period,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s been rough. It’s been … yeah. But that’s in the past. Now, all we can control is every game, every series — the mentality of winning series. We did that this homestand, and we’ve got to continue to do it.”
New York’s Christian Scott (0-0, 3.45 ERA) starts the series opener against fellow right-hander Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.91).
Scott, 26, will be making his fifth start of the season. Last time out, he allowed two runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 of a no-decision against the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday. He struck out five and walked two as the Mets improved to 3-1 in his starts.
Scott has faced Washington on one occasion, allowing four runs in 5 2/3 innings of a no-decision in July 2024.
Irvin has allowed 12 earned runs over 13 innings in his past three starts. Last time out, he gave up six runs (five earned) on four hits and four walks in three innings of a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. Irvin allowed five runs in the first inning.
Irvin is 2-4 with a 4.71 ERA in eight starts against the Mets.
After getting to .500 on Saturday, the Nationals fell back under it on Sunday, losing 7-3 to the Baltimore Orioles. Washington was going for its first home series sweep of the season.
“I think overall happy with how the series went,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “Obviously, (we) want to win every game, but taking two out of three from this team is pretty good.”
The Nationals fell to 8-14 at home this season.
Jacob Young homered for the Nationals and James Wood had two hits and a walk.
Wood has now reached base in 20 of his last 24 games, and has six doubles, five homers, 22 walks, 19 runs scored and 11 RBIs during the span.
The Nationals went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position Sunday and left 10 men on.
“I thought we did a really good job of getting some guys on base, getting some traffic moving,” Butera said. “I felt like we had some opportunities there to get back into it. We had the bases loaded at one point, we had multiple runners on base a few times when the inning ended.”
Luis Torrens had a two-run double, and Semien and Mark Vientos had two hits each for the Mets as they pulled off their stunner against the Yankees on Sunday.
“It’s always good to show some fight and come back,” Benge said.
–Field Level Media
