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Juan Soto's home run caps six-run inning as Mets defeat Nationals, 12-6

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Juan Soto's home run caps six-run inning as Mets defeat Nationals, 12-6

Juan Soto set a new career high for homers in a season as the Mets took advantage of mistakes to defeat the Nationals, 12-6, at Citi Field on Friday night.

Soto went 2-for-3 with three RBI, two walks and a stolen base as the Mets have won four of their last five games.

Here are the takeaways…

–Brandon Sproat dominated the Nats over the first two innings, striking out three, but it started to unravel a bit in the third inning due to to bad fundies. After a leadoff walk, Jorge Alfaro hit a dribbler down the third base line that Sproat came off the mound to field, and the young right-hander probably should have held it, but tried to get the out at first and instead threw it into the outfield. Paul DeJong scampered all the way home as the Mets' fielders took a while to get the ball in. After a walk, Sproat got James Wood to hit into a much-needed double play to record the first two outs of the inning. Sproat was one strike away from getting out of the inning, but CJ Abrams' double put the Nats up 2-1. Josh Bell followed with a liner to left-center field that Jose Siri had a beat on, but the ball bounced out of his glove and Abrams came around to score on the double. Daylen Lile then hit it toward Siri in shallow center but he took a bad route on it and the ball skipped past him all the way to the wall as the fourth run of the inning for Washington scored on the triple.

Sproat bounced back, striking out two in a 1-2-3 fourth, but that was the end of the line for the youngster. Sproat tossed 71 pitches (42 strikes) in four innings, allowing four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five batters.

-As for the Mets' offense, Pete Alonso was the catalyst for the team's first two runs. In the first, the slugger hit a bloop single down the right field line. Francisco Lindor, who hit a leadoff single, went first to third and came home on an error by right fielder Dylan Crews. In the third, Alonso hit a two-out single to drive in Lindor, who walked with two outs and advanced to third on a Soto single.

The Mets would get squared at 4-4 in the fourth thanks to back-to-back singles by Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte to lead off the inning, followed by a two-run double from Francisco Alvarez. After a Brett Baty HBP and Siri struck out, Lindor picked up his second hit of the game to drive in Alvarez as he and Baty moved up base on Woods' error in left field, allowing the ball to trickle under his glove. Soto capped off the six-run inning with a three-run shot to put the Mets up 8-4. The ball went out 107 mph off the bat, 419 feet to dead center for his 42nd blast of the year, a new career high. 

–Huascar Brazoban was the first arm out of the bullpen in relief of Sproat and he didn't have it. A leadoff single, then a one-out, two-run shot from Abrams cut the Mets' lead to 8-6 and Brazoban's night. After Brazoban, the Mets' bullpen was nails. The combination of Brooks Raley, Ryne Stanek, Ryan Helsley (yes, Helsley) and Tyler Rogers locked down the Nationals lineup before Chris Devenski, with a six-run lead, was asked to preserve the win. After allowing two one-out hits, Devenski struck out the last two batters he faced.

Here's how the Mets bullpen fared on Friday:

  • Brazoban: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 K
  • Raley: 1.0 IP
  • Stanek: 0.2 IP, 1 K
  • Helsley: 1.0 IP, 1 K
  • Rogers: 1.0 IP
  • Devenski: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 K

-With the Mets only up 8-6, the team scratched across a crucial insurance run in the seventh. Jeff McNeil hit a leadoff single (pinch-hitting for Mark Vientos) before Luisangel Acuña pinch-ran and stole second. Nimmo moved Acuña to third on a groundball and Marte tacked on the run with a groundout of his own.

Acuña then walked on four pitches with the bases loaded in the eighth with two outs to push across the 10th run of the evening for the Mets. Nimmo followed with a two-run single to put the game out of hand.

-Siri, getting the start at CF against the southpaw with Tyrone Taylor on a rehab assignment, not only made two misplays in the outfield but also went hitless (0-3, 2K). His strikeout in the fourth as the Mets were making their comeback had Citi Field booing. 

Game MVP: Francisco Lindor

Lindor went 3-for-4 with a walk, an RBI and three runs scored. His aggressiveness on the basepaths got the scoring going for the Mets and he was in the mix for all of the Mets' rallies. 

Highlights

What's next

The Mets and Nationals continue their weekend series with a Saturday afternoon game. First pitch is set for 4:10 p.m.

Nolan McLean (4-1, 1.19 ERA) looks to continue his dominance since being called up, while the Nationals will send Cade Cavalli (3-1, 4.76 ERA) to the mound.

 



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