Final Score: Mets 8, Nationals 5—Niese melts down, Mets beat Nationals anyways

The Mets beat the Nationals 8-5 in the first of three games in Washington to extend their National League East lead to five games. They got out to an early lead with solo home runs from Michael Conforto and Kelly Johnson in the second inning and another from Yoenis Cespedes in the fourth.

Jon Niese had been fine through three innings but melted down in the fourth. He gave up a grand slam to Wilson Ramos, which put the Mets down one, and gave up one more run in the inning before Terry Collins turned to the bullpen. Carlos Torres finished that inning without issue, though, and the Mets got a run back in the fifth on a Curtis Granderson double.

After Cespedes doubled to lead off the sixth and induced a balk from Max Scherzer, he scored on a Travis d'Arnaud sacrifice fly to tie the game. In the seventh, David Wright put the Mets up for good with a huge single, and the Mets tacked on two more runs on a Daniel Murphy sac fly and yet another double from Cespedes. The latter scored Wright from first base, and the captain celebrated that run with an emphatic fist-pump at home plate.

Oh, and the Mets' bullpen was basically flawless, aside from the fact that Torres left the game with an injury. Erik Goeddel finished the fifth for Torres and got two outs in the sixth before Dario Alvarez struck out Bryce Harper with a great slider. Hansel Robles threw two perfect innings—and pissed off some Nationals hitters with the quick-pitch—and Jeurys Familia threw a scoreless ninth with his typical mix of ridiculous stuff, including a 96-mile-per-hour splitter.

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