NEW YORK (AP) – Joe Ross tossed six solid innings and helped himself with an RBI single as the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 7-1 on Saturday. Yadiel Hernandez, a 33-year-old rookie who entered with six hits in 36 career at-bats, had two hits and two RBIs for the Nationals. Six starters had an RBI, and seven players got a hit for Washington, which finished with ten singles and no extra-base hits.
Michael Conforto homered in the fourth for the Mets.
Ross (2-1) allowed five hits and one walk while striking out four. The Mets threatened after Conforto’s two-out homer, but after giving up infield singles to J.D. Davis and Jeff McNeil, Ross returned from a 3-1 count to get James McCann to line out.
Blanked on two hits Friday night by Mets ace Jacob deGrom, the Nationals built four mini-rallies in four innings against Marcus Stroman (3-1). Josh Harrison led off the first with a single to the right and raced to third when Conforto skipped the ball for an error. Harrison scored on Hernandez’s sacrifice fly.
Stroman issued two one-out walks in the second before Ross delivered his two-out RBI hit. Kyle Schwarber and Starlin Castro had two-out hits during a four-hit third inning, and Hernandez gave another two-out RBI single in the fourth.
Stephen Tarpley made his Mets debut in the fifth but didn’t get out. Washington loaded the bases on two walks and a single before a pitch hit Alex Avila. Andrew Stevenson followed with a run-scoring forceout against Robert Gsellman.
Stroman yielded five runs (four earned) on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
DEGROMINANT
DeGrom’s seminal outing Friday night still had the Mets and Nationals buzzing Saturday.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out a career-high 15 and allowed two hits and no walks while going the distance in a 6-0 win. It was the third straight start in which deGrom had at least 14 strikeouts, tying the extensive league record set previously by Pedro Martinez and Gerrit Cole. The right-hander also went 2 for 4 with an RBI double to snap a scoreless tie in the fifth.
“I did get a bunch of texts and some calls about the performance,” Mets manager Luis Rojas said. “They were all so impressed about the baseball player – not only the pitcher but his approach at the plate, running the bases, and how complete this guy is.”
“I sat around last night after the game and talked about it a lot,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “Guy threw (109) pitches; the last inning, he’s throwing close to 100 mph. The tremendous outing by Jacob.”
SINGLES SCENE
The Nationals had at least ten hits without an extra-base hit for the first time since September 25, 2014, when they got ten singles in a 7-4 loss to the Mets. Washington is the second team this season to reach 10 dollars without an extra-base hit. New York also did so in a 5-3 loss to Philadelphia on April 5.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: LHP Jon Lester (COVID-19) remains on track to toss 90 pitches in a simulated game Sunday.
Mets: RHP Carlos Carrasco (right hamstring) threw four innings at the Mets’ spring training site in Florida, where RHP Noah Syndergaard faced batters for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery in March 2020. … RHP Dellin Betances (right shoulder) was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
UP NEXT
Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (0-2, 10.95 ERA) tossed six scoreless innings Tuesday against St. Louis after giving up 16 runs in his first two starts. Mets: RHP Taijuan Walker (0-1, 3.21) is slated to make his third start of the season at Citi Field, where he has a 2.61 ERA.
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
