Marte, Plummer power Mets to 13-5 rout of Nationals
NEW YORK — Starling Marte and Nick Plummer each homered and finished with four RBIs as the New York Mets rode an early offensive outburst to rout the Washington Nationals 13-5 on Monday night.
The top three batters in the Mets' order — Luis Guillorme, Marte and Francisco Lindor — combined to reach base in their first nine plate appearances, all of which occurred in the first three innings against Nationals starter Erick Fedde and reliever Andres Machado.
New York trailed 3-0 after a half-inning but led 12-4 after the fourth.
Lindor had RBI singles in the first and third. He has at least one RBI in each of the last eight games, the longest streak by a Mets player since Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado both had eight-game RBI streaks in June 2006.
Plummer's RBI double delivered the first run of a four-run second, when Guillorme had a run-scoring single and Marte hit his two-run homer. Marte added a two-run single in the third and Plummer — whose first career hit was a tying homer in the ninth inning of Sunday night's 5-4, 10-inning win over Philadelphia — hit an opposite field, three-run shot in the fourth.
Plummer finished a triple shy of the cycle in his second major league start.
Pete Alonso homered leading off the eighth for the Mets, who piled up 16 hits and matched their season high for runs. Alonso has 30 RBIs in May — the eighth time in franchise history a player has recorded at least 30 in a month.
Every batter for the Mets reached base at least once except Jeff McNeil, who was 0 for 5 but hit into a run-scoring double play in the first inning to pull New York to 3-2.
Colin Holderman (2-0) earned the win with 1 1/3 innings of one-run ball in relief of David Peterson, who was pulled one out shy of qualifying for the win. Peterson was charged with four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out one and throwing just 44 of his 88 pitches for strikes.
Four straight Nationals reached base with one out in the first against Peterson, with Josh Bell hitting a two-run single before Lane Thomas extended the lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Bell added an RBI single in the fifth and Cesar Hernandez had an RBI single in the sixth,
Fedde (3-4) allowed six runs and eight hits with no strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings — the most runs given up by a Nationals pitcher in 1 1/3 innings or fewer since Fedde was charged with six runs while getting the first four outs of a 24-8 loss to San Diego last July 16.
GOOD NIGHT FOR THE RANGERS
The crowd of 22,007 at Citi Field offered boisterous cheers for the highlights of each of the first four goals scored by the New York Rangers in their Game 7 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in their NHL playoff series.
GIBSON EXITS
First base umpire and crew chief Greg Gibson exited with a Mets athletic trainer following Mark Canha's leadoff single in the second. The first-pitch temperature was 74 degrees following a warm and humid afternoon.
The game was completed with three umpires. Nick Mahrley remained behind the plate and second base umpire Will Little shifted to first, with third base umpire Jordan Baker rotating as needed between second and third.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Nationals: Manager Dave Martinez said he hoped RHP Stephen Strasburg (thoracic outlet syndrome surgery) could throw a bullpen in a couple of days before taking his rehab assignment to Triple-A Rochester. Strasburg tossed five hitless innings Sunday in his second start for Class A Fredericksburg. … INF/OF Ehire Adrianza (left quad) had the day off and is expected to join Rochester on Tuesday. Martinez said he wanted Adrianza, who has yet to play this season, to get some time in the outfield before returning to the Nationals. … RHP Joe Ross (elbow) is still waiting for a second opinion on the MRI he underwent last week.
Mets: OF Travis Jankowski said he had two screws inserted into his broken hand after getting injured diving for a fly ball last Wednesday. He's expected to miss at least six weeks. … RHP Drew Smith (dislocated right pinkie) is day-to-day. No fractures were detected after he got hurt reaching for a comebacker Sunday night. … OF Brandon Nimmo (right wrist) took swings in the batting cage Monday afternoon but sat out his third straight game.
UP NEXT
Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (1-7, 6.30 ERA) earned his first win of the season last Thursday, when he gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings against Colorado.
Mets: RHP Trevor Williams (0-3, 4.37 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season Tuesday night as he auditions to fill the fifth spot in a depleted rotation for a while.