For the first time since Aug. 10-12, the New York Mets have won a series defeating the Washington Nationals — the same team they won their last series against — 9-4 on Sunday afternoon to take the rubber game of their three-game set.
It’s the first time in two-and-a-half weeks that the Mets have won consecutive games after they were dominated by the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers over a 13-game spell that saw them go 2-11.
Jonathan Villar and Francisco Lindor led the way with a pair of big days, collecting two RBI apiece, to provide the Mets a glimmer of hope that they can rebound and re-insert themselves into the conversation of contention.
The Mets got their first runs on the board behind the dynamics of their middle-infield combination of Lindor and Javier Baez.
After reaching on a fielder’s choice, Lindor got the Mets on the board in the first inning when — after moving to third on a Pete Alonso base hit and passed — forced a balk from Nationals starter Erik Fedde to score the opening run.
Josh Bell put the Nationals temporarily ahead with a two-run home run in the top of the fourth, but New York immediately answered with a showing of power of their own as Baez collected his fourth home run as a Met — launching a two-run shot of his own into the left-center stands.
Bell’s home run was the only damage done off young Mets starter Tylor Megill, who continues to excel in his fill-in role, allowing just two runs on a single hit in five innings of work with five strikeouts.
The Mets doubled their lead in the fifth inning when Alonso drove in Villar with an RBI triple and pulled ahead even further in the sixth after the National pulled one back via a Juan Soto solo shot.
After Dominic Smith collected just his second RBI in 10 games with an RBI single, Villar put the Mets up 7-3 with a laser that just cleared the left-center field stands.
Bell would pull one back in the eighth with his second home run of the game, but Lindor quickly canceled it out with a two-RBI double to score a pair.
