Mets return to Citi Field, open set vs. Nats
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(SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Mets are back home for the next six games and will start a four-game series Thursday versus the NL East-rival Washington Nationals at Citi Field.
The Mets are scheduled to play the Baltimore Orioles twice on this residency and are 10-0 at home. They have won 12 straight at Citi Field dating back to last season, matching a club record for consecutive wins as the host.
New York, though, went 2-4 on its recent road trip against the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, and had won 11 in a row before the trek. The club lost the last two meetings of a three-game set in Miami, including Wednesday's 7-3 setback in the series finale.
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Bartolo Colon was aiming for a 5-0 start, but was touched for four runs and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings.
"I thought I pitched a good game and the team behind me gave me support," Colon said. "Too bad I couldn't pick them up when I needed to."
Michael Cuddyer gave the Mets an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the first inning and Miami evened the score in the bottom half on Giancarlo Stanton's two-run blast. Curtis Granderson put New York back on top, 3-2, when he scored on a groundout in the third. The Marlins then scored the next five runs to win the game.
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Kevin Plawecki recorded a pair of hits for the Mets, who still have one of the best records in baseball at 15-7.
New York has 15 wins in April and the club record is 16 set in 2002 (16-10) and matched in 2006 (16-8).
Jacob deGrom draws the start for the Mets Thursday and is 2-2 with a 2.96 ERA in four starts. He had a personal two-game win streak stopped in a 6-1 loss at Yankee Stadium last Friday and gave up a season-high six runs and eight hits in a season-low five innings.
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The right-hander was coming off back-to-back scoreless performances against Philadelphia and Miami. DeGrom lost at Washington in his season debut on April 8 and allowed two runs in six innings of a 2-1 setback. He is 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two career starts against the Nationals.
Washington took the last two tests of a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves and recorded a 13-4 triumph on Wednesday. Denard Span hit a three-run homer during a four-run ninth inning to rub salt in the wound and starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann drove in three runs in a four-run fourth.
Zimmermann earned the win and gave up four runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in seven innings. Matt Grace and Aaron Barrett each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
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Danny Espinosa went 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, and Bryce Harper scored three times for the Nationals, who were coming off a thrilling 13-12 comeback victory on Tuesday. It is the first time in franchise history that the Nationals have scored 13 runs in back-to-back games.
"I think we had good at-bats," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "We kept getting those opportunities. We came through today."
The Nats' current win streak comes on the heels of six straight losses.
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Stephen Strasburg will try to keep the wins coming when he takes the mound for Washington Thursday. Strasburg is only 1-2 with a 4.88 earned run average in four starts and struggled in an 8-0 loss at Miami on Saturday, charged with four runs and eight hits in six innings.
Strasburg threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in a 4-1 win over Philadelphia the previous time out and lost to the Mets on April 9. He allowed six runs (3 earned) and nine hits across 5 1/3 innings. In seven career starts against the Mets, the right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.55 ERA.
The Nationals lost two of three meetings with New York from April 6-9 in DC, but are 11-4 in the previous 15 games in this series.