Dylan Crews homered and scored three runs as the host Washington Nationals held off the New York Mets 7-6 on Friday to open the teams’ final series of the season.
James Wood, Jacob Young and Daylen Lile had two hits each for Washington (76-84), which has won three straight. Wood also walked twice.
Nationals reliever Gus Varland (2-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Josiah Gray worked around a walk in the ninth for his first career save.
Bo Bichette and Carson Benge homered for the Mets (73-87), who dropped their second game in a row and are assured of finishing last in the National League East. New York hadn’t finished at the bottom of the division since 2003.
Benge, who had two hits and walked twice, became the first Mets rookie to have a 20-homer, 20-steal season.
New York reliever Jonathan Pintaro (2-3) gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning.
With Washington up 7-5, pinch hitter Brett Baty singled leading off the New York eighth. Benge singled him to third and Baty scored on Francisco Alvarez’s sacrifice fly. After a groundout, Nationals reliever Jack Sinclair stranded Benge at second by striking out A.J. Ewing.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the first. Juan Soto singled with one out, Bichette walked and Mark Vientos lined a double to left, scoring Soto. Benge walked, but Alvarez grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Washington jumped on top in its half of the first. Wood singled and Brady House drew a one-out walk. Crews grounded into a force at second, leaving runners at first and third, and he stole second. CJ Abrams then singled off the wall in right, driving in both runners.
In the third, New York’s Francisco Lindor and Soto singled. Bichette doubled to right to score Lindor, and Vientos hit a sacrifice fly, knocking in Soto to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
The Nationals responded in the bottom of the third.
Andres Chaparro singled, went to second on a wild pitch by Pintaro and moved to third on House’s double. Pintaro then unleashed two run-scoring wild pitches, giving the Nationals the lead. Crews walked, and Cionel Perez replaced Pintaro on the mound.
After another wild pitch, Abrams walked, and the runners executed a double steal. Crews scored on Lile’s sacrifice fly to make it 5-3, and Abrams came home on a single by Keibert Ruiz.
New York pulled within 6-5 thanks to solo homers in the fifth by Bichette and Benge.
Crews went deep in the seventh.
Washington starter Andrew Alvarez gave up five runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. New York opener Jefry Yan permitted two runs on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
