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Nationals defeat Syndergaard, Mets in series opener 11-4

Mets GM Sandy Alderson announced before the game that LHP Steven Matz (7-3, 3.29 ERA) will not pitch Wednesday in Washington and instead will be pushed back to Thursday in NY against the Chicago Cubs due to a spur in the back of his elbow. Washington tied a franchise record with six steals in the game.

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The Nationals’ offense erased the deficit in the third inning, scoring five times while batting around against Syndergaard.

“He’s come a long ways from when we saw him in spring training”, Baker said of Giolito after the game, which Washington won 5-0 to clinch the series victory over NY.

Though the 21-year-old only got four innings in, he was thoroughly impressive.

“At this point it’s a function of whether [Matz] can tolerate the discomfort while continuing to pitch”, said Alderson.

Mets right-hander Matt Harvey (4-10) wasn’t quite as locked in but was very good in allowing one run on four hits in 3.2 innings. Guys in our organization were asking, ‘Who is this guy?’ I was impressed with how he commanded his pitches that day.

Wilson Ramos, who caught the shutout, had two hits and his two-run double in the seventh gave the Nationals a 5-0 cushion.

Washington added five runs over the next two innings against reliever Sean Gilmartin. Going back to Little League, my mom and dad driving me to games, going to travel baseball, waking up at five in the morning, going to God knows where in the middle of California.

Syndergaard declined to comment on the report after Monday’s start. Martin pitched a scoreless ninth Monday.

Lucas Giolito’s major league debut was the big story, but there were plenty of other good signs from the Washington Nationals in last night’s 5-0 win over the New York Mets.

Today’s Player of the Game Award goes to Nationals’ outfielder Bryce Harper, who went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and a two run homer. Strasburg was scratched from his last two starts and underwent an MRI exam Monday.

The three-time NL Cy Young victor is 11-2 with a 1.79 ERA this season. Matz underwent an MRI on Monday in NY and will be re-evaluated Tuesday.

Almost six years later another right-hander from California is slated to make his first major-league appearance on the mound for the Washington Nationals.

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Nationals: RHP Max Scherzer (8-5, 3.52 ERA) makes his 17th start of the season trying to bounce back from allowing four earned runs in a loss to Milwaukee on Saturday.

Mets, Syndergaard squander early lead over Nats in 11-4 loss