The Mets lose their fourth straight game

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals by the score of 5-4 on Tuesday night. The game took place at Nationals park in Washington D.C.. Jon Niese started for the Mets and pitched well. The Mets bullpen blew the game. Ross Detwiler pitched really well for the Nationals and their bullpen struggled a bit also. Josh Thole, David Wright and Daniel Murphy each had two hits. Bryce Harper and Espinoza led the Nationals offense. 
Niese pitched seven innings giving up three hits and a run with no walks and eight strikeouts. Ramon Ramirez pitched to two batters and retired them both, Josh Edgin pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a walk and Bobby Parnell blew his fifth save of the season. Parnell pitched an inning giving up three hits and a run with two strikeouts. Tim Byrdak took his first loss of the season pitching 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs with two walks and Pedro Beato didn’t record an out but he threw a wild pitch.

Ruben Tejada had a hit, Thole had two hits and an RBI and Wright had two hits. Scott Hairston had a hit, Jordany Valdespin had a hit and three RBI and Ike Davis had a hit. Andres Torres had a hit, Murphy had two hits and Wright, Murphy and Thole each had a double. Valdespin hit a homerun, the Mets were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base.

Steve Lombardozzi had a hit and an RBI, Harper had two hits and an RBI and Ryan Zimmerman drew a walk. Michael Morse had a hit, Ian Desmond drew a walk and Adam LaRoche had a hit. Moore had a hit and an RBI, Espinosa had two hits and an RBI and Mark DeRosa drew a walk. Solano had a hit, Lombardozz had a double, Harper had a triple and Morse hit a homerun. The Nationals were 3-7 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. DeRosa had a stolen base.

Moore hit a solo homerun in the fifth inning to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead. Lombardozzi hit an RBI double in the eighth inning to make it a 2-0 game. In the ninth Valdespin hit a three run pinch hit homerun to give the Mets a 3-2 lead. The play was reviewed but not overturned. Espinosa hit an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at three. Thole hit an RBI double in the tenth to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Harper hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the tenth and a wild pitch won the game for the Nationals 5-4.

The Mets have now lost four games in a row to open the second half of the season. The Mets record fell to 46-44 and the Nationals record improved to 52-36. The final game of the series will be played on Wednesday night.