Gonzalez, Nationals stifle Mets

Flushing, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Gio Gonzalez tossed seven scoreless innings as the Washington Nationals silenced the New York Mets by a 1-0 score in the third of a four-game set on Saturday.

Gonzalez (2-2) gave up six hits and two walks, while fanning nine batters to improve to 8-4 in 14 career starts against the Mets.

Michael Taylor drove in a run, while Wilson Ramos, Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa each supplied two hits for the Nationals, who have won four of their last five games.

"We certainly would have liked to score more than one to help them out," Nationals manager Matt Williams said of his pitchers. "They can keep another team down and give us opportunities."

Juan Lagares had two hits and Lucas Duda doubled for the Mets, who had Jonathon Niese (2-2) allow just one run on nine hits with five strikeouts over his seven-inning outing.

"It's probably the best I've felt all year. There were a lot of ground ball base hits, tough-luck stuff," Niese said.

The Mets failed to get much going offensively. They mustered just one extra- base hit, finished with just two runners in scoring position and left six men on base.

In the home first, Lagares hit a one-out single and rounded third on Duda's double to the left corner, but outfielder Jayson Werth tracked down the ball and had his throw relayed by Desmond to Ramos at home plate, where he tagged out Lagares.

Michael Cuddyer worked a walk and the runners advanced on a wild pitch, but Daniel Murphy grounded out to leave the runners stranded.

Desmond and Espinosa each hit one-out singles in the second and moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt. Taylor's grounder was deflected by Murphy at third base for an RBI single and an early Washington lead.

The Nationals looked to add to their lead in the sixth with two runners in scoring position, but Taylor grounded out to shortstop Ruben Tejada to end the inning.

Aaron Barrett and Matt Grace combined for a scoreless eighth and Drew Storen fired a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season.

Game Notes

Washington outfielder Bryce Harper extended his career-best on-base streak to 18 games with a walk ... Niese has allowed no more than two earned runs in eight of his last nine starts ... The Nationals improved to 26-6 over the last four seasons against the Mets at Citi Field ... Time of game: 2:31 ... Washington will send starter Doug Fister to the mound in Sunday's series finale to face New York's Dillon Gee.