The Washington Nationals entered the seventh inning Thursday afternoon trailing by three against the New York Mets, rallied as Luis Garcia scored on a wild pitch and celebrated when Andrew Stevenson drove in two more to knot the score.
None of it mattered.
The New York fans went home happy when two-time Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso sent a home run to left field to end the game — the second of two between the teams on Thursday — in walkoff fashion.
“He’s a big guy, he swings hard,” Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan, who gave up the walkoff blast, said of Alonso. “If we got five extra feet of fence there, maybe it’s a flyout. He made a good play for his team, I was happy with the pitch.”
The Mets completed the series sweep over the Nationals, winning the finale 5-4.
Washington only managed to record one hit through the first four innings. After an Adrian Sanchez one-out double in the fifth, the Nationals’ bats strung together well-timed contact from the bottom of the order to cut into the lead.
Tres Barerra singled and Yadiel Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to drive Sanchez in from third, putting the Nationals on the board.
Starter Erick Fedde threw four innings, giving up two runs, while recording four strikeouts and a walk. Fedde allowed the Mets to have a base runner in scoring position in each inning he tossed.
“I thought my cutter was really good,” Fedde said. “I threw that a lot for strikes today and I think I really kept the lefties off balance with it.”
The Mets took the first game of the doubleheader, 4-1.
The Nationals have now dropped nine of their last 10 games and have only won two games since the July 30 trade deadline, when they dealt eight players, including right-handed ace Max Scherzer and All-Star shortstop Trea Turner.
Ryan Zimmerman, who played in his 1,768th game as a National on Thursday, broke Tim Wallach’s franchise record for the most games played. He’s by far the most-tenured player on the active roster, as Juan Soto is the next closest with 417 games — the 64th-most in franchise history.
Nationals manager Dave Martinez said the young roster will get better and he’s confident they’re going to be in contention in each game they play.
“It’s going to be a learning process for these guys,” Martinez said. “We’ve just got to keep battling.”
Washington’s bullpen, which lost its two go-to arms in Brad Hand and Daniel Hudson at the trade deadline, pitched well in the first game, but was knocked around in the second.
Andres Machado, Javey Guerra and Jefry Rodriguez combined to pitch three scoreless innings in the first game, only allowing four hits.
Gabe Klobosits, who was called up when Hand and Hudson were traded, pitched a scoreless inning, recording a strikeout in the second game of the doubleheader.
Since his debut on July 30, Klobosits has been used frequently by Washington, tossing 7 2/3 innings across seven appearances.
“(Klobosits) wants the ball every day,” Martinez said. “He pounds the strike zone, he’s been doing that so far, so I like that.”
Tanner Rainey pitched in relief of Klobosits and gave up a two-run home run to Jonathan Villar in the sixth. Rainey was optioned back to Triple-A Rochester minutes after the Nationals lost.
