Mets vs. Nationals recap: For a split second, it seemed like they might win

If the Mets were to fancy themselves as contenders, even after three disappointing months of baseball to start the season, they were probably going to have to sweep the Nationals in the three-game series that started last night. And after a couple of dramatic late-game home runs—the first hit by Michael Taylor for the Nationals and the second by pinch-hitting Curtis Granderson for the Mets—the Mets’ bullpen quickly lost the game and erased the possibility of that sweep.

Steven Matz was great in his start, as he didn’t allow any runs in seven innings. Stephen Strasburg was for Washington, too, with seven scoreless innings of his own. Matz only struck out four, but Strasburg only struck out six, a low tally for him compared to many of his starts this year.

But after those performances, the bullpens faltered. Jerry Blevins, who has been in a rut for a little while now, served up the aforementioned two-run home run to Taylor in the bottom of the eighth. And Granderson’s home run answered that one when he came up to pinch hit with two outs and a runner on, fell behind 0-2 in the count, and took a pitch over the right-center field fence to very briefly make things exciting.

The Mets’ bullpen wasn’t having any of it, though, and a combination of three relievers set the Nationals up to win it all, and ultimately, Ryan Raburn did. And when he hit the game-ending single, Yoenis Cespedes tried to catch it, didn’t, and came up limping. So the 2017 season has gone.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Steven Matz, +44.5% WPA, Curtis Granderson, +36.0% WPA
Big losers: Fernando Salas, -36.2% WPA, Jerry Blevins, -33.3% WPA, Yoenis Cespedes, -14.4% WPA, Jose Reyes, -12.2% WPA, Travis d’Arnaud, -11.9% WPA, Jay Bruce, -11.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play:
Teh sux0rest play:
Total pitcher WPA: -23.4% WPA
Total batter WPA: -26.6% WPA
GWRBI!: Ryan Raburn