The Mets lost Max Scherzer, then they lost a game.
After Scherzer left with “fatigue on his left side” following the fifth inning and with the score tied, the Mets lost to the Nationals 7-1 on Saturday night in front of 33.509 at Citi Field.
While the Mets (85-49) were left holding their breath over Scherzer’s status — he threw just 67 pitches before leaving with the score 1-1 — their lead atop the NL East was cut to two games as the Braves beat the Marlins in Atlanta .
The Mets’ bullpen kept the 1-1 tie intact until the eighth inning, when Lane Thomas cracked a solo home run off Adam Ottavino for a 2-1 Washington lead. Entering Saturday, Ottavino had allowed just two earned runs across 18 innings since the All-Star break.
The Nationals (46-87) broke the game open with a five-run ninth inning against Adonis Medina.
It was a much quieter night for the Mets’ offense, which for a change could not crack Patrick Corbin. The Nationals southpaw entered the night with a 6.56 ERA on the season, though he had pitched better in his past two starts, including a 6.62 ERA (13 earned runs on 27 hits and nine walks across 17 ²/₃ innings) in four outings against the Mets.
But on Saturday, the Mets hardly touched Corbin. He gave up just one run — on an Eduardo Escobar solo home run in the third inning — on three hits and one walk across seven strong innings.
“I thought that was as good as I’ve seen [him] — he had command and a little extra crispness to his stuff tonight,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “I think his command was the difference. He was spotting up inside and then pitching up in the zone, a little extra on his fastball, too. He was spinning the ball at the top, that’s why we had a lot of fly balls. Then he got a lot of pitches on the inner quarter that he hadn’t been doing.”
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Mets threatened against Nationals reliever Carl Edwards Jr. After Escobar led off with a walk, he was erased at second on a fielder’s choice by Brandon Nimmo. Starling Marte followed with an infield single that put runners on first and second with two outs. But Francisco Lindor could not take advantage, popping out to shortstop to end the frame.
Then in the ninth, the Nationals scores five runs on five hits, a walk and an error against Medina. The right-hander faced seven hitters and recorded just one out before being replaced by Bryce Montes de Jan, who made his MLB debut after being called up earlier in the day.
Luis Garcia had put the Nationals ahead 1-0 in the first inning, when he turned on a 94 mph fastball from Scherzer and crushed a home run 411 feet to right field.
After James McCann threw out an attempted base stealer in the second inning, the Mets used a heads-up play to get Scherzer out of a jam in the third. With one out and runners on first and second, Garcia hit a check-swing flare to shortstop. Lindor looked ready to catch the ball before letting it fall. He then flipped the ball to second base for a force out before Jeff McNeil fired to third to get CJ Abrams, who got a late break, for the double play.
The Mets then tied the score in the bottom of the third when Escobar homered for the second straight game. He did so as a right-handed hitter against the left-handed Corbin, a night after going deep as a left-handed hitter against righty Josiah Gray.
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