Mets manage just one hit in matinee loss to Nationals
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (right) tags out the Washington Nationals' Ildemaro Vargas during the fifth inning of a game on Thursday, July 4, 2024, in Washington. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
WASHINGTON — The Mets took the field on time Thursday for a bright-and-early 11:05 a.m. first pitch, as is the Independence Day tradition in the nation’s capital.
But they forgot to bring the fireworks.
In a 1-0 loss to the Nationals, the Mets mustered one hit, a third-inning single by Jeff McNeil. Their next 20 batters went down in order in a game that took only 1 hour, 58 minutes.
Jesse Winker walloped a pinch-hit home run off freshly inserted righthander Adrian Houser in the bottom of the eighth in a game that featured Jose Quintana (seven innings) and Washington righty Jake Irvin (eight innings) keeping the game scoreless most of the way.
“I don’t think you need to look too much into it,” Brandon Nimmo said. “It’s just a day that hard-hit balls didn’t fall. And [Irvin] pitched well.”
Nimmo said he didn’t know if the early start factored in, but he didn’t love it, either.
“When do we ever start at 11 a.m.?” he said. “The minor leagues, right? . . . Let’s just go ahead and throw a wrench in things and do something we’ve never done before. But it’s fine. I felt prepared for today. I felt fine.
“It’s not like it was all strikeouts. There were a lot of balls put in play that got caught, that were right at people. And that was on both sides. They had a few scoring opportunities and weren’t able to capitalize on them.”
Quintana said: “It’s hard to play at this time.”
The Mets dropped back under .500 at 42-43, settling for a series split after taking the first two games. They have dropped four of their past six contests overall, emerging from a superb June by slipping into their old habit of finding ways to lose.
Each of those four losses was winnable. In two, they blew five-run leads. One was an extra-innings loss. And then this tight one.
“I feel like we easily could’ve gone 3-1 and possibly swept this series,” Nimmo said. “Although, today, I’m looking at it and I’m like, eh. It kind of ended up the way it was — I didn’t see anything in there that was a missed opportunity. But we easily could’ve come out of this series 3-1. Those are totally different records.”
Quintana allowed at least one baserunner in every inning, scattering four hits and three walks. Nobody advanced past second base. He struck out one.
Over his past four starts, Quintana has lowered his ERA from 5.29 to 4.22. He credited a mechanical change. Manager Carlos Mendoza praised his willingness to be more aggressive and attack batters with strikes, which especially worked in his favor against the swing-happy Nationals (41-46).
“I tried to get quick innings and come back to the dugout quickly and get some rest. It was so humid out there,” Quintana said. “I like quick games, but I don’t like that kind of quick game because you don’t get that support. So I was waiting for our hitters, we need to make runs. When you score, the inning is a little longer.”
The Mets were missing one-third of their usual lineup: J.D. Martinez (rest), Harrison Bader (sore neck/upper back) and Starling Marte (on the injured list with a right knee bone bruise).
In the longest outing of his career, Irvin (2.80 ERA) walked DJ Stewart in the second inning and yielded McNeil’s hit a frame later. And that was it. He finished his outing by retiring 17 consecutive batters.
“The fastball was explosive,” Mendoza said. “The ball jumps on you. Sometimes it says 94 [mph] but it plays up. It’s more like 96, 97 because it gets on top of you. And then on top of that, when the breaking ball is in the strike zone, it makes for a tough at-bat. Really good arm that is having a really good year.”
Notes & quotes: Kodai Senga’s next rehab start will be with Triple-A Syracuse, probably Tuesday, Mendoza said. He’ll throw about 50 pitches. The Mets want him to get to 75 to 80 pitches before returning to the majors . . . Bader was out of the lineup for a second game in a row. Mendoza said he was available off the bench, which was not the case the day before . . . In their series opener against the Pirates on Friday, the Mets will face righthander Paul Skenes, the hardest-throwing starter in the majors. His fastball averages 99.2 mph. The first overall pick in the draft last year has a 2.06 ERA in nine games. “He’s going to come right at you,” Mendoza said.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.