 and Todd Frazier walked with two outs.Doolittle relieved and hit Carlos Gomez with his first pitch, then Lagares hit a one-hop double to the left-center wall, ending an 0-for-12 slide. Wilson Ramos was intentionally walked, and the 38-year-old Davis, batting in the pitcher's spot, hit the first pinch homer of his big league career. Davis was called up before the game when Brandon Nimmo went on the injured list with inflammation in his neck and arrived at Citi Field around the third inning.Mets star Robinson Cano was sent for an MRI after straining his left quad running to first base when he grounded out in the third following J. D. Davis' two-out double. The eight-time All-Star twice failed to run out grounders last weekend in Miami, both of them resulting in double plays.Drew Gagnon (3-0) pitched a perfect eighth for the Mets, who had been 0-23 when trailing after seven innings. Tyler Bashlor finished the three-hitter.New York (23-26) won its third straight in the four-game series - all after the team said Mickey Callaway's job as manager was safe - and stretched its home winning streak to six.Washington has dropped to 19-30 and is 10 games under .500 for the first time since September 2011.Neither Cy Young Award winner has been sharp this season, and it showed.A three-time Cy Young who won the honor for Washington in 2016 and `17, Scherzer allowed four hits, struck out nine and walked two, but he needed 25 pitches in the first and fifth innings and 24 in the fourth.Scherzer was removed after 109 pitches - he fell one shy of matching Cleveland's Trevor Bauer as the only hurlers since the start of the 2018 season to throw 110 pitches in five straight starts.DeGrom, the reigning NL Cy Young, lost his second straight start and dropped to 1-6 in his last eight despite allowing two hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and three walks.BLUESNew York was feeling blue before the game - in a good way. Having won the first two games of the series in alternate blue jerseys, the Mets stayed with the dark shirts.BYENationals: LHP Dan Jennings, who had been designated for assignment, elected free agency.Mets: RHP Paul Sewald was designated for assignment.TRAINER'S ROOMNationals: 1B Matt Adams had not played since May 4 because of a strained left shoulder. Washington manager Dave Martinez decided after watching him take batting practice Tuesday that he did not need a minor league rehab assignment. To clear a roster spot, INF Adrian Sanchez was optioned to Double-A Harrisburg, leaving 3B Anthony Rendon as the backup shortstop. ... RHP Trevor Rosenthal, who last pitched for the Nationals on April 24 and was put on the IL with a viral infection, had an erratic one-inning appearance for Harrisburg on Tuesday, allowing two walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch and a two-run double. He likely will make another minor league appearance Thursday.Mets: INF Jeff McNeil was out of a starting lineup because of a tight left hamstring.UP NEXTRHP Stephen Strasburg (4-3) starts Thursday's series finale for the Nationals and LHP Steven Matz (3-3) for the Mets.---More MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/-Sports)
A pair of aces meet when Nationals face MetsFLMThe Washington Nationals headed to the Big Apple early Monday morning with a chance to deliver the final knockout blow to the New York Mets and embattled manager Mickey Callaway. Two Mets wins later, the Nationals are the punch-drunk team that looks as if it could topple over with a slight nudge.Fortunately for the Nationals, Max Scherzer is on the mound Wednesday night. Unfortunately for Washington, so too will Jacob deGrom.The last two National League Cy Young Award winners are scheduled to square off in what could be a taut pitcher's duel Wednesday night, when Scherzer (2-5, 3.72 ERA) will try to play the role of stopper for the Nationals against deGrom (3-5, 3.98 ERA).The Nationals were dealt their third straight loss Tuesday, when they squandered seventh- and eighth-inning leads before Mets shortstop Amed Rosario legged out the game-winning RBI infield single with two outs in the ninth inning to lift New York to a 6-5 victory.The loss dropped the Nationals a season-worst 10 games under .500. Of Washington's 29 defeats, 15 have come by two runs or fewer or in extra innings."The guys are battling, but we've got to finish games," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said afterward. "We're right there, but we've got to win. The bottom line is we have to start winning." That was almost surely the message presented to Callaway when he met Monday with rookie general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and ownership after the Mets finished a 1-5 road trip that ended with a three-game sweep at the hands of the Miami Marlins, who have the worst record in baseball.Van Wagenen gave Callaway support during a press conference later Monday. Then came consecutive victories over the Nationals."We want to snowball good days together," rookie Pete Alonso said. "(Tuesday) was definitely a really good day for us. Same thing tomorrow. Same plan tomorrow." Runs could be at a premium in the second meeting of the season between Scherzer and deGrom, who took 29 of 30 first-place votes in winning the Cy Young last year. The other first-place vote went to Scherzer, who won the award the previous two campaigns.Both aces lost their most recent starts last Friday and enter the game with unusually high ERAs and losing records, though their peripherals indicate better days are ahead.Scherzer, who leads the NL with 87 strikeouts, has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 6.21/1, which would be the second-best of his career, and entered Tuesday with an NL-best 2.45 fielding independent ERA.DeGrom, who missed 10 days in April due to strep throat and a sore elbow, is averaging 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings, which was tied for third in the NL entering Tuesday and would be the highest rate of his career.Scherzer gave up three runs over six innings last Friday in the Nationals' 14-6 loss to the Chicago Cubs. DeGrom allowed seven runs (six earned) over five innings as the Mets fell to the Marlins 8-6.Scherzer is 10-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 19 career appearances (18 starts) against the Mets. He no-hit New York on Oct. 3, 2015, when he whiffed 17 and missed a perfect game after a sixth-inning throwing error by third baseman Yunel Escobar.DeGrom is 8-4 with a 2.50 ERA in 16 career starts against the Nationals.DeGrom outdueled Scherzer on Opening Day, when the right-hander struck out 10 over six scoreless innings in the Mets' 2-0 win. Scherzer took the loss after striking out 12 and giving up both runs over 7 2/3 innings.--Field Level Media
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