 cruised against New York's sputtering offense, allowing two hits with 10 strikeouts over 7 1/3 shutout innings. He retired 18 in a row before Brandon Nimmo's single in the eighth and finished with at least 10 strikeouts for the fourth straight outing. Murphy homered off Logan Verrett (3-5) in the second for a 1-0 lead and golfed a two-run drive in the eighth against reliever Sean Gilmartin. The second baseman matched his career high with 14 homers and helped Washington win its fourth in a row. Murphy is batting .428 (15 for 35) with four home runs and 11 RBIs against New York. He signed a $37.5 million, three-year contract with Washington last offseason after spending his first seven seasons with the Mets and powering them into the World Series last year with a record-setting postseason. The Mets went 23 innings without scoring before James Loney's two-run homer in the ninth off Shawn Kelley. Kelley got four outs for his fourth save. He threw a called third strike past Nimmo with a runner on second to end it. New York lost 5-0 in Tuesday's rain-interrupted matchup after dropping the series opener 11-4. Scherzer walked Kelly Johnson in the second, the same inning in which Asdrubal Cabrera registered New York's first hit. The Mets didn't reach base again until Nimmo's hit on the final pitch from Scherzer, who left to a standing ovation. Mets right fielder Curtis Granderson was a late scratch from the starting lineup one day after being removed from Tuesday's game with right calf tightness. He entered as a pinch hitter and singled off reliever Oliver Perez. Kelley, Washington's fourth pitcher in the inning, whiffed Alejandro De Aza with the potential tying runs in scoring position to end the eighth. Making a spot start because Steven Matz was pushed back a day, Verrett lost his fifth straight decision. He allowed two runs and four hits, including Murphy's long drive that landed in the second deck, with four walks over five innings. Jayson Werth's sacrifice fly scored Danny Espinosa for a 2-0 lead in the third. Scherzer struck out at least 10 batters for the seventh time in 2016 and 43rd time in his career. Yoenis Cespedes struck out three times against Scherzer, who lost 2-0 at the Mets on May 17 despite compiling 10 strikeouts. TRAINER'S ROOMMets: RHP Noah Syndergaard, who struggled in Monday's opener, confirmed he has a bone spur in his elbow. He called it ''pretty insignificant.'' Nationals: RHP Jonathan Papelbon (right intercostal strain) threw around 30 pitches during a simulated game at Nationals Park. The closer will continue his rehab at Double-A Harrisburg, where he's expected to pitch in back-to-back games starting Friday. UP NEXTMets: Matz (7-3, 3.29 ERA) faces Chicago Cubs RHP John Lackey (7-4, 3.29) on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Citi Field, a rematch of last year's NL Championship Series that the Mets won in a four-game sweep. Nationals: LHP Gio Gonzalez (3-7, 4.73 ERA) tries to snap a six-game losing streak. LHP Brandon Finnegan (3-6, 3.83) opens the four-game series for visiting Cincinnati.
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Time: 07:05 P.M. EST Venue: Nationals Park
WASHINGTON -- The starting rotation of the New York Mets was a strength going into the 2016 season. Now it is officially a concern following updates Tuesday on left-hander Steven Matz and right-hander Noah Syndergaard, who lasted just three innings on Monday in Washington against the Nationals." We have a less than perfect situation right now," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson admitted Tuesday, after announcing that Matz would not make his start as scheduled on Wednesday against the Nationals. Logan Verrett (3-4, 4.14) will make the start Wednesday against Max Scherzer (8-5, 3.52) of the Nationals. Verrett has made 20 appearances this year, with four starts, while Scherzer threw a no-hitter at New York last October." Steven has a spur in the back of his elbow," Alderson said. "It is causing discomfort. There is no structural damage in his elbow. Continuing to pitch will not cause any structural damage. What we have decided to do for the moment is skip his start tomorrow and pitch him on Thursday. We will continue to monitor his situation. We will monitor the level of discomfort. We will monitor it on a start-by-star basis." Alderson said at some point the Mets may consider going to a six-man rotation to help save wear and tear on Matz and the rest of the staff. But manager Terry Collins said Tuesday that is not going to happen in the immediate future. Matz last pitched on Friday against the Atlanta Braves and last 4 1/3 innings and gave up six earned runs on nine hits. He did not figure in the decision as the Mets won 8-6. Is he confident he can pitch through his elbow issues?"I've been doing it up until this point," he told reporters Tuesday. "It's something that, as long as they feel comfortable with me being out there with the way I'm pitching, then I think I'm going to battle through it. That's the mindset- get it all behind me and just go out there and pitch." Is it difficult to deal with mentally?"There's not much difficulty there just because the doctor is really confident that nothing structurally is wrong. So it's just a matter of going out there and pitching now," Matz added. Alderson said if Matz had surgery he would be out about three months, which would put a return in October. Matz said he will deal with the spur coming out when the time comes. The Long Island native said he has talked to veteran pitcher Bartolo Colon, whom Matz has talked to regarding his condition." Yeah, I was talking to Bartolo. He's had stuff like this taken out and he's pitched through it. I know some other guys I've talked to that have dealt with the same thing," Matz said. "I think that's one thing I talked about with Terry that we're going to just treat this like I'm cleared to go. We're going to put this behind me, we're going to keep it in mind, but we're going to try to keep the rotation in order. That's ultimately up to them, but that's my mindset too... If I'm good, then I'm good." Alderson said Syndergaard has a very small spur in the back of his elbow. "There is no structural damage," said Alderson, who added the right-hander will take anti-inflammatory medicine. The Nationals have right-hander Stephen Strasburg on the disabled list, but have ace Scherzer ready to pitch the series finale Wednesday against the Mets. Washington will seek a sweep after winning on Monday and Tuesday.
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