Mets blow out Nationals for fifth straight victory

The Mets entered play Tuesday evening with a four game winning streak, and kept up their scorching play on a sweltering evening in Queens. Trevor Williams drew the start after Thomas Szapucki’s implosion last week against the Giants, and got off to a solid start, working around a walk to Juan Soto in the top of the first.

The Mets staked Williams to a lead immediately, as Mark Canha took to hitting leadoff, starting the game with his first of four hits on the night, and Starling Marte followed by blasting a 431 foot bomb onto the batter’s eye in center to the right of the home run apple.

In the bottom of the third, the Mets loaded the bases with one out on three singles. Eduardo Escobar struck out, but the red-hot Luis Guillorme—now hitting .365 after yet another multi-hit game—picked Escobar up with a clutch two-run opposite field single to extend the lead to 4-0. The game was never really in doubt thereafter, as Williams was solid throughout his five shutout innings on his way to earning his first victory as a Met.

Meanwhile, it was mostly just fun and games and stat-padding for the offense therafter, as the Mets buried the Nationals with six more runs across the fifth and sixth innings. Canha laced a two-run double down the right field line, Francisco Lindor extended his RBI streak to nine consecutive games with a two-run single, and Escobar put the cherry on top with his third home run of the year as the struggling infielder looks to get back on track. Drew Smith, Joely Rodriguez, and Adonis Medina combined to pitch the last four innings and close out the shutout.

With a tough schedule coming up, the victory moved the Mets to 34-17 on the season—a 108 win pace that would match the total of the vaunted 1986 World Championship team, and ensured that the team would enter June with no less than a 9.5 game lead in the division, pending the outcome of the Braves game in Arizona late Tuesday night. The Mets will look to complete the sweep of the Nationals in an afternoon contest Wednesday behind Carlos Carrasco.

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

www.fangraphs.com

Big Mets winner: Trevor Williams, +19.7 WPA
Big Mets loser: Eduardo Escobar, -6.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: +20.0% WPA
Mets hitters: +30.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marie two-run home run in the bottom of the first, +16.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Eduardo Escobar strike out with bases loaded in the bottom of the third , -4.8% WPA

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