Javier Baez hit a long go-ahead two-run homer in the fourth inning and close friend Francisco Lindor hit a two-run double in the eighth as the New York Mets enjoyed a rare offensive outburst in a 9-4 victory over the visiting Washington Nationals on Sunday afternoon.

Jonathan Villar contributed three hits, including a two-run homer in the sixth, as the Mets won for only the fourth time in 16 games and scored their most runs since a 15-11 win at Cincinnati on July 19.

Pete Alonso collected three hits, including an RBI single in the fifth, and pinch hitter Dominic Smith contributed a run-scoring single in the sixth.

Lindor accounted for New York's first run when he scored on a balk in the first inning and then drove in his first runs since returning from an oblique injury Tuesday with a bases-loaded double.

Josh Bell recorded his sixth career multi-homer game, hitting a two-run homer off New York's Tylor Megill (2-3) in the fourth and a solo shot in the eighth. Juan Soto also connected for a solo homer -- and those home runs represented all three of the Nationals' hits.

Megill rebounded from his worst start of the season and got his second career win. After allowing seven runs and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants, Megill allowed two runs on one hit in five innings against Washington.

Baez gave the Mets a 3-2 lead with his fourth homer since being acquired from the Chicago Cubs on July 30. He drove a 1-0 curveball from Erick Fedde (6-9) that hung at the outer edge of the plate into the second deck in left field.

After Baez's 444-foot blast, Villar tripled off the center field wall to start the fifth and scored on Alonso's single for a 4-2 lead.

The Nationals made it a one-run game when Soto homered to center off left-hander Aaron Loup but the Mets took a 7-3 lead on Smith's single off Fedde and Villar's homer off Kyle McGowin that hit the orange line beyond the left-center field wall.

After Soto homered, Loup quickly finished the sixth and Miguel Castro pitched a scoreless seventh. Jeurys Familia allowed Bell's homer that just cleared the left field fence and issued consecutive walks before fanning Luis Garcia to end the eighth.

Heath Hembree finished up the combined three-hitter.

Fedde tied a season high by allowing six runs (five earned) and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.

--Field Level Media