NEW YORK (AP) — Jose Quintana permitted one hit in seven shutout innings, Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor both homered and drove in three runs, and the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Harrison Bader had three hits and scored twice from the bottom of the batting order for the Mets, who moved back to .500 at 45-45. Lindor also had three hits and scored two runs in the leadoff spot.
Pinch-hitter Ildemaro Vargas put the Nationals on the board with a two-run homer in the eighth against reliever Adam Ottavino, booed off the mound by the Citi Field crowd of 31,243.
Keibert Ruiz added a two-run homer off Reed Garrett in the ninth, and Jacob Young scored from second base on a wild pitch by Edwin Díaz before the closer struck out All-Star CJ Abrams for his ninth save in 14 opportunities.
Jake Irvin (7-7) held the Mets to one hit over eight innings for a 1-0 win last week in Washington, but this time they got to him early.
With two outs in the second, the right-hander walked slumping Jeff McNeil and gave up a single to Bader. Lindor lashed an RBI single, and Nimmo’s high fly to left field kept carrying over the wall for a three-run shot.
Bader singled again with two outs in the sixth, and Lindor’s 16th homer made it 6-0. Irvin, who was 4-1 with a 1.70 ERA in his previous five games, allowed nine hits and two walks in six innings.
Quintana (4-5) kept the young Nationals hitters off balance all night, setting down his final 13 batters to win his third straight decision. The veteran lefty struck out five and walked one, yielding just a leadoff single to Luis García Jr. in the third.
Washington loaded the bases with two outs, but touted rookie James Wood was retired on a nice play by Lindor at shortstop.
Quintana is 3-0 with a 0.89 ERA in his past five starts. He also fired seven scoreless innings last Thursday in Washington, taking a no-decision in his duel with Irvin.
Tyrone Taylor tripled leading off the eighth for New York and scored on McNeil’s double.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: LHP Jose A. Ferrer (lat strain) was scheduled to throw one inning in a rehab outing with Double-A Harrisburg. … 1B Joey Gallo (left hamstring strain) is with the team and doing very light baseball activity. “He still can’t fully run yet, but he’s getting better,” manager Dave Martinez said.
Mets: RHP Kodai Senga tossed 2 2/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball for Triple-A Syracuse in his second minor league rehab start. Sidelined all season by a shoulder injury, the right-hander threw 30 of his 52 pitches for strikes against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, a New York Yankees affiliate. He struck out three and walked two. Senga made his first rehab start last Wednesday with High-A Brooklyn, throwing 35 pitches in 2 2/3 hitless innings.
UP NEXT
Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (1-8, 5.49 ERA) starts the middle game of the series Wednesday night against RHP Luis Severino (5-3, 3.83).
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
