Mets vs. Nationals recap: Matz no match for Max

If the Mets were trying to turn what had been an uplifting, encouraging week or so of baseball into the exact opposite over the first two games of their series with the Nationals, they’ve succeeded wildly.

As had been the case on Thursday night, the Mets lost to their division rivals and never really made the game close. Steven Matz wasn’t that bad, but he did give up four runs in seven innings, and of the eight hits he allowed, three were home runs.

Max Scherzer was dominant, as is often the case for him, even if the Mets have gotten to him on occasion in the past. He went eight innings and only faltered a little bit in the final frame, as he allowed a solo home run to Jose Reyes.

But for the most part, this was a sloppy game for the Mets, a sharp one for the Nationals, and at the very best, the Mets are left in a spot where they can split the series and resume their attempt to climb back to .500 and into a not-entirely-unrealistic division race when they head to Los Angeles. But any distant hope that they would do so this weekend feels much farther away already.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: none
Big losers: Steven Matz, -13.8% WPA, Travis d’Arnaud, -13.1% WPA, Wilmer Flores, -11.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: T.J. Rivera is hit by a pitch in the second, +5.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Matt Wieters hits a home run in the top of the third, -12.2% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -15.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: -34.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Anthony Rendon