Mets power past host Nationals
WASHINGTON -- David Wright, Yoenis Cespedes and Neil Walker hit home runs and Bartolo Colon settled down after a rocky start as the New York Mets hammered the first-place Washington Nationals 7-1 Monday in the first of a three-game series.
The Mets went deep three times against starter Gio Gonzalez (3-2), who had allowed just three homers in his first eight starts. Colon (4-3), meanwhile, kept the ball in the park as he gave up just one run on five hits in seven innings after he had yielded 11 runs in his previous three outings.
Wright had three RBIs while Curtis Granderson, Juan Lagares, Cespedes, Walker and former National infielder Asdrubal Cabrera each had two hits for the Mets. The 4-5-6 hitters for New York combined for six hits, four runs and three RBIs.
New York (26-18) won its fourth game in a row while Washington (27-18) saw its lead shrink to a 1/2 game over the Mets in the National League East. The Mets have a league-high 63 homers and have allowed just 27.
Daniel Murphy, Jayson Werth and Ryan Zimmerman each had two hits for the Nationals, who have lost six of their last 10 home games. Switch-hitter Walker homered against lefty Gonzalez and now has 104 homers in his career, with 10 from the right side. But four of those homers from the right side have come this year.
Ex-Washington pitcher Jerry Blevins pitched a scoreless eighth for the Mets and Logan Verrett took over in the ninth.
Cespedes and Walker hit back-to-back homers off Gonzalez in the fifth as the Mets built the margin to 7-1. It was the 15th homer of the year for Cespedes, who entered the game tied for the major league lead in that category.
New York had five hits in a row while scoring five runs in the third. Wright hit a three-run homer on the first pitch he saw from Gonzalez, Cabrera had an RBI single, and Eric Campbell drove in the fifth run on a hard sacrifice fly to make it 5-1.
The Nationals had three singles in the first inning, the last one by Zimmerman driving in Werth to make the score 1-0. Washington now has 48 first-inning runs this year to lead the majors.
Gonzalez allowed seven runs on 10 hits (including three homers) with seven strikeouts in five innings before Blake Treinen took over in the sixth. Gonzalez entered the game with a 1.86 ERA -- the best mark among Washington starters. Prior to Monday, he was 10-4 in his career in 18 starts against the Mets.
NOTES: The start of the game was delayed one hour, five minutes by rain. ... Mets 1B Lucas Duda went on the 15-day disabled list due to a stress fracture in his lower back. "He will be out for a while," said Mets manager Terry Collins. UT Ty Kelly was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas, and the Mets designated LHP Dario Alvarez for assignment. ... The series continues Tuesday with Washington RHP Stephen Strasburg (7-0, 2.80) facing Mets RHP Matt Harvey (3-6, 5.77), who gave up a career-high nine runs (six earned) in his start against Washington on Thursday in New York. Harvey lasted a career-low 2 2/3 innings ... Mets RHP Noah Syndergaard was named the National League player of the week for May 16-22. He was 2-0 and didn't allow an earned run in 14 innings, with no walks and 21 strikeouts. ... Washington 2B Daniel Murphy, who played for the Mets for seven years through 2015, was hitting .387 through Sunday to lead the majors.