Nationals 7, Mets 2: Wilson Ramos belted the go-ahead homer to lead off the fifth and rookie Tanner Roark tossed six solid innings in his second major-league start as visiting Washington wrapped up a four-game sweep of reeling New York.
Ryan Zimmerman went deep for the eighth time in 10 contests before adding an RBI double. Adam LaRoche and Anthony Rendon tacked on solo shots for the Nationals, who clubbed 13 homers in the series and posted their sixth consecutive victory to reside 5 1/2 games behind Cincinnati in the race for the second wild card.
Daniel Murphy ripped an RBI double in the first inning and Anthony Recker added a run-scoring single in the fourth. Aaron Harang (0-1) surrendered three solo homers among four hits and struck out 10 in his debut for the Mets, who fell to 2-9 in September.
Ramos jumped on a 1-0 hanging slider from Harang and deposited it well over the wall in left-center field. Ramos' blast, which gave Washington a 2-0 lead, was his 13th of the season and second of the series.
Roark (6-0) allowed two runs on six hits while striking out three to pick up the win. Rendon added a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and Zimmerman plated Denard Span with a double in the eighth before coming around to score on Ian Desmond's groundout to put the game out of reach.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Span led off the eighth inning with a double to extend his career-best hitting streak to 23 games. ... LaRoche gave Washington a 2-1 advantage in the second inning - just three pitches after the conclusion of a 55-minute rain delay. The slugger belted a high fastball from Harang to left-center field that caromed just above the orange line and off the glove of LF Eric Young Jr. LaRoche chugged into second base with a double before officials deemed it a homer following a lengthy review. ... Washington begins a 10-game homestand on Friday with a three-game set against NL East-rival Philadelphia. New York continues its 11-game homestand on Friday by opening a four-game series versus division-foe Miami.
Washington | NY Mets | |
Tanner Roark | Player | Aaron Harang |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 6.0 |
3 | Strikeouts | 10 |
6 | Hits | 4 |
3.00 | ERA | 4.50 |
Washington | NY Mets | |
Adam LaRoche | Player | Anthony Recker |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Washington | 8 | 4 | 23 | .235 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
NY Mets | 8 | 0 | 9 | .242 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |