Washington Nationals starting pitcher Tanner Roark was spectacular in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over the New York Mets, spinning seven shutout innings while giving up only three hits. The move paid off on a major league mound on Monday.
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Meanwhile, Latos’s home run, which led off the second inning, triggered an offensive outburst. The Mets had won six straight series before losing on Wednesday. Mets won 4-3 in 10 innings. It was just one inning later that Ramos left the park for his 21st homer of the season.
Mat Latos threw 4 1/3 innings in his first start with the Nationals allowing three hits and one run with three walks and four strikeouts. He did give up for walks to tie a season-high, but they didn’t hurt him.
Trea Turner had two hits for the Nationals, who were 8-2 on the homestand.
Ramos and Ryan Zimmerman added RBI singles for Washington.
Reliever Blake Treinen pitched the eighth and Mark Melancon got the final three outs for his 42 save. It was Melancon’s fifth appearance in a mater of six days.
The first-place Washington Nationals are in the midst of another pennant race, aiming for their third National League East title in five years. There was no evidence of the Nats having his number Tuesday.
The Mets are 4-0 in their last four game threes of a series, and 2-6 in their last eight Wednesday games. Their 87 wins are the third-most in team history (2005-present). A potential sweep would have halted the team’s momentum, and the Mets can’t afford to lose games that Syndergaard starts. On Wednesday, it was a single to center field in the first inning that sealed that sealed the feat.
Salas, who was 3-6 with the Angels, had not allowed a run in seven appearances since being acquired from Los Angeles on August 31. But rookie left-hander Josh Smoker (one of the Nationals’ first round draft picks in 2007) struck out Harper looking at a 2-2 fastball on the outside corner, Harper glaring at plate umpire CB Bucknor after the call.
As feel-good moments go, this was about as good as it gets: Rivera, the local kid who has hit.300 at every level of the minors but couldn’t seem to convince anyone he belonged in the big leagues, taking advantage of a hunch by the manager to stick a righthanded contact hitter in the lineup on a night he was playing mostly lefties. He has been the starting pitcher in seven of the team’s 12 shutouts this season. Over 30 games (29 starts) and a 14-8 record, Roark owns a 2.85 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP in 186.1 innings. That’s good for fifth in baseball.
Roark settled in after that bump first inning and allowed the Mets just one more at-bat with runners in scoring position, and he struck out Gsellman to end that jam in the fourth.
Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper slides safely with a steal of second base as New York Mets second baseman T.J. Rivera (54) can’t make the tag in time during the second inning of a baseball game at Nationals Park, Tuesday, Se. He began the season with Double-A Binghamton of the Eastern League. That means that 54 percent of the time he starts, he gets at least two hits.
Trea Turner #7 of the Washington Nationals is tagged out trying to steal second base in the first inning by Asdrubal Cabrera #13 of the New York Mets at Nationals Park on September 14, 2016 in Washington. They’re big games. This is a big time of year, and we played pretty well at home.
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Roark has a 1.88 ERA in his career against the Mets but he has never beaten them.
