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Brandon Nimmo knows the New York Mets could have completed a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals on Monday afternoon.

But salvaging a split in telling fashion almost was as satisfying for Nimmo and the Mets, who will look to build on Monday’s offensive outburst when they return home Tuesday night to host the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series.

David Peterson (1-1, 3.29 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Eduardo Rodriguez (1-2, 4.40) in a battle of left-handers.

Nimmo tied the franchise record with nine RBIs Monday afternoon, when the Mets rolled to a 19-5 victory over the Nationals. The Diamondbacks were off Monday after they avoided being swept by the visiting Atlanta Braves with a 6-4 win in the finale of a three-game set Sunday afternoon.

Nimmo, who had 12 RBIs in his first 27 games this season, did all his damage in a span of three at-bats between the sixth and eighth innings on Monday, when the Mets scored 12 runs. The left fielder hit a three-run homer in the sixth and laced a grand slam in the seventh before delivering a two-run double in the eighth.

The nine-RBI game was the second by a Mets player and the first since Carlos Delgado’s outburst sparked a 15-6 win over the New York Yankees on June 27, 2008.

“These days don’t come around that often and you kind of sit back and enjoy it,” Nimmo said.

With the lopsided win, the Mets became the first team this season to reach 20 victories and avoided losing a series for just the third time in nine tries. New York frittered away a one-run ninth-inning lead in a 5-4 loss Friday before squandering a six-run seventh-inning lead Sunday when the Nationals scored twice in the ninth to earn an 8-7 win.

“They had some great comebacks, can’t take that away from them, but we definitely understand that we were very close to at least taking three there, if not trying to sweep a series,” Nimmo said. “But you know what, it’s baseball, it happens sometimes. We’re not going to be perfect. So you try and flush it and come back today and I thought the guys did an amazing job with that. That’s going to be what we’re going to have to do this whole season.”

The Diamondbacks also produced plenty of offense during a high-scoring weekend that didn’t yield a series win. After falling 8-2 on Friday, Arizona squandered a four-run lead Saturday, when Eugenio Suarez tied the major league record by hitting four homers in an 8-7, 10-inning loss.

Josh Naylor and Geraldo Perdomo had two RBIs apiece and Corbin Carroll tripled twice Sunday, when the Diamondbacks scored at least six runs for the 14th time. They had at least six runs three times during a 2-4 homestand against the Braves and Tampa Bay Rays.

Arizona also got solid bullpen work Sunday from Shelby Miller, Ryan Thompson and Justin Martinez, who combined to allow one run over the final three innings in relief of Brandon Pfaadt.

The victory allowed Arizona to avoid falling to .500 for the first time since it was 7-7 on April 11.

“We’re a good baseball team,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “I feel like we could — instead of going 2-4 — we could have gone 4-2 on this homestand very easily. That’s my standard.”

Neither Peterson nor Rodriguez factored into the decision in their previous starts last Wednesday. Peterson gave up two runs over 5 1/3 innings in the Mets’ 4-3, 10-inning win over the Philadelphia Phillies while Rodriguez allowed four runs over 6 2/3 innings as the Diamondbacks fell to the Rays, 7-6, in 11 innings.

Peterson is 0-0 with a 5.21 ERA in five career starts against the Diamondbacks. Rodriguez is 1-0 with a 3.57 ERA in three starts versus the Mets.

–Field Level Media