Tomas Nido set a career-high with four hits and drove in four runs while Francisco Lindor moved into a tie for second on the franchise’s longest RBI streak list to help the New York Mets complete a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field with a 5-0 victory.
The win extends the Mets’ (35-17) season-high win streak to six games while opening up an 11-game lead prior to the rest of Wednesday night’s action around MLB.
Coming off the first two games of this series in which they combined to plate 23 runs on 33 hits, New York’s offense slowed down a bit, but was covered by Carlos Carrasco’s gutsy five-inning effort before Seth Lugo, Adam Ottavino, and Edwin Diaz closed the door on Washington.
In the three-game set, the Mets outscored the Nationals 28-5.
Carrasco, who improves to 6-1 on the season, escaped from a pair of jams in the third and fourth innings to keep the Nationals off the scoreboard while the Mets had their initial struggles with southpaw starter Evan Lee — who was making his MLB debut on Wednesday.
Throwing 11 consecutive balls in the third, Carrasco walked the bases loaded with two outs before striking out Yadiel Hernandez.
An inning later, two-straight hits from Luis Garcia and Riley Adams put runners at the corners with one out, but he coaxed an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play from Dee Strange-Gordon.
The Mets rewarded Carrasco’s escapism by giving him a lead in the bottom of the fourth, finally breaking through on Lee and ultimately running him from the game.
With runners on first and second, Nido smacked a single that scored JD Davis before Strange-Gordon misplayed the roller in center field, allowing Luis Guillorme to come around, too, making it a 2-0 game.
“Tomas if he can stay in the zone like most hitters, he’s got a track record of hitting,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “I think he won a batting title in the minors… There’s not any catcher who’s good defensively that doesn’t want to hit. Especially with a track record of hitting. It’s good to see a return for the work he’s been putting in.”
Carrasco ran right back into trouble when a Josh Bell double moved Nelson Cruz to third with two outs in the fifth, but he got Hernandez to hit a little cue shot that was quickly scooped up by Nido before applying the tag.
It was the final action of the right-hander’s day, allowing four runs with five walks and five strikeouts all while keeping Washington off the board.
Lindor gave the Mets some insurance with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, driving in Nido — who led the inning off with a single — to keep his RBI streak alive and extend it to 10 games.
Mike Piazza, who owns the franchise record of 15 in 2000, also had a 10-game streak of his own from Aug. 11-22, 1999, which stood alone as the second-longest streak in franchise history before Lindor’s torrid run.
Nido put the game out of sight in the eighth when he snuck a liner in front of a diving Hernandez in left, who couldn’t keep the ball in front of him, allowing Davis and Guillorme to score again from second and first respectively while the catcher cruised into second with a double.
