GM Mike Rizzo likes Nats after trade deadline — Washington Nationals News

He’s the first Met to go eight innings in three straight home games since Al Leiter in 2001. He looked strong for his entire outing and struck out seven against five hits and two walks.

Braves starter Williams Perez (4-1) gave up nine runs and nine hits in 4 1-3 innings. For Sunday’s game the Mets start Noah Syndergaard who has allowed 73 hits and 26 earned runs while striking out 91 over 86.2 innings for a 5-5 record and a 2.70 ERA.

NEW YORK (AP) – As the clock ticked past 11 p.m. and “Moondance” by Van Morrison practically wafted through the ballpark, young children ran around the bases as part of a family-friendly promotion normally reserved for Sunday afternoons.

Wilmer Flores hit the winning run for New York Mets against Washington, days after crying in a game because he thought he was going to be traded.

The Washington Nationals may have enjoyed an early lead in their Saturday night game against the New York Mets, but two home runs and a tie-breaking double from the Mets’ Lucas Duda had the Nats losing 3-2 in Citi Field.

“It’s sure nice to have him in our lineup”, Duda said.

New York finished a wildly eventful 6-4 homestand that featured one trade that fell through, the additions of four new players – including slugger Yoenis Cespedes – and a 162-game drug suspension for reliever Jenrry Mejia. A stingy pitching staff. The Washington Nationals are finding it’s not so easy coming into Citi Field anymore.

The Mets won 3-2 but they needed Duda’s two home runs to first level the match at 2-2 going into the eighth inning, before the 29-year-old hit a go-ahead RBI double with Curtis Granderson running in to score. Anthony Rendon reached on an infield single, and Escobar singled sharply up the middle on a 2-2 fastball that registered 97 miles per hour.

Mets nemesis Jordan Zimmermann (8-7) issued a leadoff walk in the third.

The crowd was still roaring when Murphy homered to nearly the same spot on the next pitch.

Cespedes mostly said all the right things in his first press conference as a Met, too, talking about how he craves the big stage. “It was up and in for a ball up, and somehow he kept it fair”. The two-run shot marked Duda’s ninth home run in his last eight games. “The Mets are a great team, and it’s definitely going to be a lot of fun down the stretch”. “I don’t think it adds any pressure or anything like that”. “From my experience in this stadium, that was unique”.

The right-hander allowed three runs in seven innings opposite Syndergaard on July 22. While he was getting ready on deck, fans that were sitting in the few rows behind him were yelling to Flores that he had been traded. “Outstanding”, Mets manager Terry Collins said to reporters after Friday’s game.

The 23-year-old infielder drove a 1-1 pitch from Felipe Rivero (1-1) to left-center for his 11th home run and first in 147 at-bats since June 12 against Atlanta.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Mark Canha stroked a walk-off double to left-center field in the 10th inning, sending Oakland past Cleveland.

Cespedes wrapped up Kelly Johnson, briefly his teammate in Boston last year, in a hug and later changed into a shirt that read “Bam” on the front – think comic-book sound effect for a ball being hit hard, maybe? The Mets are 38-18 at home. “They ought to just sit home, watch games on TV and on their cell phones”, Collins said.

Right-hander Ivan Nova (4-3) bounced back from a bout with arm fatigue in his last start by holding the White Sox to just one run in six innings. But he got a rise out of the crowd in the sixth when he hit a long flyball to left that went foul. Strasburg is expected to throw 80-85 pitches. He should then go to the club’s complex in Port St. Lucie, Florida, where he will soon begin rehab games. Top prospect Michael Conforto was sent to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room for Cespedes.

In 99 percent of those trade scenarios, Flores is a goner, and the lasting image of him would be his sobbing face on the back pages of all three New York tabloids.

Mets: 3B David Wright (back) will travel with the team to Miami and continue his workouts.