Mets fall victim to the long ball in 11-3 loss to Nationals

The New York Mets were handily beaten 11-3 by the Washington Nationals today at First Data Field. The Mets trailed from the very first batter of this game and could not recover.

Steven Matz had the kind of performance that makes you glad these games don’t count, as he was taken deep four times and was charged with eight earned runs on seven hits in two innings. The hope was that, like Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard before him, Matz would pitch at least five innings, but those hopes were dashed early on.

Adam Eaton led off the game with a home run that was aided a bit by the wind blowing out to left. The subsequent batters continued to hit Matz hard, as even the outs were loud. The big blast came from Yan Gomes, who drove a no-doubt-about-it three-run home run over the left field wall to put the Mets behind 5-0. Matz finished the first inning with 35 pitches and was consistently up in the zone with his pitches — specifically his curveball — and the Nationals took full advantage of his mistakes. He was also unable to put batters away, as the two home runs he gave up came with two strikes. His troubles persisted in the second, although the left-hander only allowed only three runs — on home runs from Anthony Rendon and Ryan Zimmerman. He was replaced by Eric Hanhold to start the third.

Some more notes from today’s game:

• Edwin Diaz entered the game in the fourth and gave up solo home runs to Anthony Rendon and Matt Adams. He has now allowed three home runs this spring.
• Robert Gsellman became the first Mets pitcher to post a scoreless inning, as he retired the Nationals in order in the fifth inning.
• Luis Avilan pitched two scoreless innings to further bolster his case for a spot in the bullpen. He allowed one hit and struck out one batter in his outing. On the spring, he’s been charged with two earned runs in 9.2 innings (1.86 ERA).
• Luis Guillorme added to his stellar spring with a run-scoring double to get the Mets on the board in the second. He also made a nice defensive play at second base.
• Keon Broxton picked up two hits in three at-bats and scored two of the team’s three runs before being replaced by Gregor Blanco to start the eighth inning.
• Pete Alonso pinch-hit for Robinson Cano in the eighth inning and grounded out to third.

Full box score: MLB.com