Joe Ross pitched six sharp innings of one-run ball as the visiting Washington Nationals scored in each of the first five innings and beat the New York Mets 7-1 on Saturday.

Five days after allowing a career-high 10 runs and four homers in a 12-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals, Ross (2-1) was much sharper. He held the Mets to five hits, struck out four and issued one walk in an efficient 91-pitch showing.

The right-hander got a lead two batters into the game as the Nationals bounced back nicely less than 24 hours after being held to two hits and striking out 15 times against New York ace Jacob deGrom.

Every starter reached base at least once on a day Washington did not produce an extra-base hit.

Yadiel Hernandez, who entered the game with six hits in 36 career at-bats, drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly in the first inning and an RBI single in the fourth that put Washington up 5-0.

Hernandez's sacrifice fly scored Josh Harrison, who singled two pitches in off Marcus Stroman (3-1) and advanced to third on a fielding error by right fielder Michael Conforto, who allowed the ball to roll all the way to the fence.

Ross added a run-scoring single in the second for his third career RBI before Washington scored twice in the third on RBI singles by Kyle Schwarber and Starlin Castro.

Washington scored its sixth run in the fifth when Alex Avila was plunked by Stephen Tarpley. The Nationals got their final run later in the fifth when Schwarber scored on a ground ball by Andrew Stevenson after the Mets could not complete a double play.

Conforto hit his first homer of the season in the fourth for the Mets, who lost for the third time in four games. After Conforto homered, the Mets got consecutive infield singles from J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil but Ross got James McCann on a pop-up.

Stroman allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits in four innings and saw his ERA rise from 0.89 to 2.22. The right-hander also saw a personal six-game winning streak halted and took his first defeat since Sept. 7, 2019, against Philadelphia.

--Field Level Media