Tomas Nido hit a two-run homer and a grand slam in consecutive at-bats as the New York Mets recorded an 8-2 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Thursday afternoon to salvage a split of the four-game series.

Nido helped the Mets win for the fourth time in six games by homering in the fourth and fifth innings.

The backup catcher hit a two-run drive off Austin Voth by driving a 2-1 curveball into the left-field seats in the fourth for a 3-1 lead, and then hit his first career grand slam by slugging an 0-2 changeup from Seth Romero over the left-field fence to make it 7-1 in the fifth. Nido's six RBIs were a career high.

Dominic Smith also homered for the Mets, who lost Jeff McNeil to a violent collision with the left-field fence on a fly ball by Asdrubal Cabrera in the first inning.

New York scored its final run on an RBI single by Pete Alonso in the eighth.

Juan Soto hit his fourth homer of the series in the sixth as the Nationals lost for the sixth time in eight games. Soto's homer came after he was plunked by Mets rookie starter David Peterson, prompting warnings to both teams from plate umpire Carlos Torres.

Peterson (3-1) continued his impressive start to his career, allowing an unearned run and one hit in five innings. He did not allow a hit until Yan Gomes opened the fifth with a clean single.

Peterson struck out three, walked two, and threw 74 pitches. Aided by McNeil's catch, he stranded two in the first after allowing an unearned run on Howie Kendrick's grounder, which came after a throwing error by Nido.

Voth (0-2) allowed three runs on six hits in four innings. Romero made his major league debut after being recalled from the Nationals' alternate site to replace Sean Doolittle, who was placed on the injured list with right knee fatigue.

The Nationals also had a bizarre ejection in the third as Stephen Strasburg was tossed for arguing a close pitch to Alonso that was called a ball. Strasburg was sitting in the empty stands and walked through the seating area to go back to the clubhouse.

--Field Level Media