The New York Mets lose to the Washington Nationals as Steven Matz struggles

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals on Friday afternoon.  The game took place at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida and the final score was 9-5.  Matz didn't pitch very well in the game.  The Mets had seven hits but no player had a multi-hit game. 

Matz pitched two innings giving up two hits and three runs with two walks and a strikeout.  Antonio Bastardo pitched an inning giving up two hits and he struck out one, Logan Verrett pitched two innings giving up two hits and he struck out two and Sean Gilmartin pitched two innings giving up three hits and a run with a walk and a strikeout.  Duane Below pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up four hits and five runs with a walk and Zach Thornton pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk. 

Alejandro De Aza had a hit, Ty Kelly drew a walk and Juan Lagares had a hit and an RBI.  John Mora had a hit and two RBI, Wilmer Flores drew two walks and T.J. Rivera had a hit.  Johnny Monell drew a walk, Marc Krauss had a hit and Danny Muno drew a walk.  Roger Bernadina had a hit, Travis Taijeron had an RBI and drew a walk and Bernadina hit a double.  The Mets were 2-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.  Matz, De Aza, Cecchini and Mora each committed an error. 

In the third Lagares hit an RBI single to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.  The Nationals tied it in the third on a Brian Goodwin RBI single.  Chris Heisey hit a two run single to give the Nats a 3-1 lead in the third.  In the seventh Logan Schafer hit an RBI groundout to push the lead to 4-1.  Chris Bostick hit an RBI double in the eighth and it was 5-1 Washington.  Tony Campana hit a two run single to push the lead to 7-1 still in the eighth inning.  Jason Martinson hit an RBI double and it was 8-1 Nationals.  Schafer hit an RBI double to make it a 9-1 game.  In the ninth Taijeron hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 9-2, Mora hit a two run single to make it 9-4 and Rivera reached on a fielding error and a run scored to make it a 9-5 game.  That would be the final score.  The Mets record is now 4-4 and they have a couple of ties in the spring.  The Mets will be at home in Port St. Lucie on Saturday afternoon to take on the St. Louis Cardinals.