Mets vs. Nationals Recap: Small ball wins it all

wOn a day dedicated to the reliable, hard-working men that help raise and take care of us, Jacob deGrom stepped in to take care of his team. His first trip to the mound was shaky, at best. Brian Goodwin reached on a fielding error from Wilmer Flores, who was manning second base today. Bryce Harper singled Goodwin over to second, and a passed ball allowed him to reach third, where a sacrifice fly would get the Nationals their only run of the game.

deGrom settled in after his rocky start, setting down the next five batters before giving up a single to Trea Turner in the top of the third. Turner, who apparently was feeling larcenous today, stole four bases off of deGrom and Travis d’Arnaud. Helping his own cause, deGrom hit his first career home run to start off the bottom of the third and bring the game to a tie.

In the fourth inning, Lucas Duda and T.J. Rivera singled their way on base, when d’Arnaud hit a line drive to center fielder Michael Taylor. Taylor threw into Matt Wieters at home, but Wieters was unable to hold the ball in his glove, allowing Duda to score. In his next at bat, Michael Conforto hit a single to plate Rivera and bring the score to 3-1.

The scoring continued in the sixth, as deGrom executed a sacrifice bunt to push d’Arnaud to second base. Conforto would collect his second RBI of the day, hitting a single to bring d’Arnaud home.

RBI singles were the Mets’ weapon of choice today, as Curtis Granderson singled in Jay Bruce during the seventh to score the team’s fifth and final run.

Jacob deGrom improved to 6-3 on the season, and dropped his ERA to 3.94. He is 15-4 over 31 career day time starts, and owns a 1.78 ERA during that span - the lowest in the majors dating back to 1913.

The Mets will make their way over to Los Angeles to face Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers tomorrow night.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Jacob deGrom, +26.2%, Michael Conforto, +19.4% WPA
Big losers: Jose Reyes, -8.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Travis d’Arnaud RBI single, Lucas Duda score on error +15.5% WPA.
Teh sux0rest play: Travis d’Arnaud ground out to first, -6.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: 27.5% WPA+
Total batter WPA: 22.5% WPA+
GWRBI!: Curtis Granderson