The Nationals have an 8-game lead in the National League East and a lineup liable to make opposing managers break out into a cold sweat. Before Sunday night, they’d beaten the Mets in seven of their last nine meetings. In almost every way, they have the advantage. Almost.
With their rotation in tatters and so much of their Opening Day roster injured, this Mets team has demonstrated a stubborn, almost defiant, level of resilience. Their latest display, a 5-1 win over the Nationals in the rubber game of the series, was a testament to that.
Take away Matt Harvey, they seemed to say in this last stretch, take away Steven Matz and Jacob deGrom. We’ll do it with Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo instead.
The Mets have won 11 of their last 15. They gained no ground on the Cardinals, who won and remain in the second wild-card spot, but they inched up on the slumping Giants.
They also got huge contributions from a couple of bats that had more or less been asleep for the better part of the last month. Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce, both long dormant and both suddenly hot, each homered and provided all of the Mets’ offence. Which is pretty good news for the Mets, given that they’re without Neil Walker ... and David Wright ... and Lucas Duda ... and, well, you get the idea.
On Sunday night, Lugo, one of the motley crew of no-names with something to prove, impressed with ability that rivalled any established member of the rotation. He far outdueled rookie Reynaldo Lopez and held the Nationals to one run in seven innings. In what probably is the highlight of his baseball life, he allowed six hits, routinely challenged the heart of the lineup with his fastball and sinker, and left the game to a standing ovation after throwing 101 pitches.
He retired 11 straight at one point and ended his night by striking out Trea Turner swinging with a runner on second base. After posting a 6.50 ERA with Triple-A Las Vegas this year, Lugo is down to 2.38 in four games with the Mets. Stubborn resilience? This would be it.
The Mets scored in the first. Jose Reyes walked, Asdrubal Cabrera singled him to second and both of them moved up a base on Lopez’s wild pitch before Granderson hit a sacrifice fly to left to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
The Nationals tied it when Danny Espinosa cranked Lugo’s 2-and-2 sinker to the second deck in right.
But Granderson, who has eight RBIs in his last six games, struck again in the third. With Yoenis Cespedes at first (he reached on a two-out blooper), Granderson turned on Lopez’s fat 94-mph fastball and drilled it to right for his 23rd homer of the season to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.
Bruce, who came into the game hitting a woeful .198 as a Met, is showing clear signs of the hitter he was in the first half of the season. He hit a hard single to right in the second _ he ended the inning trying to go first to third on a single – and then hit a two-run homer to left-centre in the sixth. It was his 29th homer of the season but only his fourth as a Met. He’s hit safely in five straight games.
Bruce’s homer also made a little Mets history: It was the 97th home run hit at home, breaking the record of 96 set at Shea Stadium in 2006.
Addison Reed pitched the eighth, stranding two, and Jeurys Familia finished up with a scoreless ninth. He has allowed only one run since Aug. 1, a span of 14 2/3 innings.