No Duda, no problem: Mets find power stroke, beat Nationals

NY manager Terry Collins said it will take a committee approach to replace Duda, and the Mets lineup immediately set about showing how that will work as David Wright hit a three-run homer during a five-run third inning, and Yoenis Cespedes, (pictured), and Neil Walker padded the lead with back-to-back homers in the fifth.

“It happens in a short period of time”, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said. He’s that good. Carlos Martinez (4-4, 3.56 ERA), who has been St. Louis’ best starter his season, will have to raise his game even more to defeat the reigning NL Cy Young victor. Harvey has likely never experienced real failure and has likely never had the fans turn on him the way they have in NY, so it’s hard to try to focus on the positives when they seem to be crashing down around you.

Wright hit a three-run shot off Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez (3-2) during a five-run third inning, and Cespedes and Walker went back-to-back in the fifth. It was just the second time the Nationals got a runner past first base.

For every Mets home run hit at Citi Field® this season, Citi will show their appreciation to No Kid Hungry with a $2,000 donation to help fight childhood hunger. “We’re going to sleep on it and talk about it tomorrow”.

Stephen Strasburg (8-0) struck out 11 and allowed two runs over 6 2/3 innings in defeating Harvey and the Mets for the second time in six days. “When he hit a wall in the fifth inning, I said I wasn’t surprised”.

Matzretired 16 batters in a row before Clint Robinson’s two-out single in the eighth on his 100th pitch.

The Mets are 26-19 and trail the Nationals by 1½ games in the NL East entering Wednesday’s game. For the last two years, Bartolo Colon’s at-bats have brought us joy and an endless number of GIFs, as his awkward swing and motion was just undeniably hilarious. Since he allowed one run and one hit in six innings at Arizona on Wednesday, Yankees starting pitchers have a 1.76 ERA and the team’s earned-run average has dropped from 4.48 to 4.09. “He’s still got it”, Collins insisted.

“We believe the best way to get him back is to have him keep pitching and keep making progress and stay up here in the big leagues”, Ricco said. Since losing his first start of the season, Matz has gone 6-0 with a superb 1.35 ERA in his last six games. In the seventh, the Mets scored an unearned run on Rene Rivera’s RBI single, which was set up when former Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy let a ground ball roll through his legs.

Asdrubal Cabrera and Eric Campbell homered for the Mets, whose four-game winning streak ended.

Cespedes’ 15th of the season and Walker’s 11th marked the seventh time NY went back-to-back in 2016. Colon gives up a leadoff walk to pinch hitter Heisey, but 2 pitches later he induces Ben Revere into a 4-6-3 double play. He has never lost a game on the road (5-0) or faced the Nationals.