John Matthews
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON — (WMAL) These Nats are such a tease. Every night this week, they opened a lead over the Mets, only to watch it disappear in a fit of bullpen futility.
Wednesday night was just the latest example, as New York came from behind to beat the Nats, 5 – 3, and sweep the three-game set at Nationals Park.
Stephen Strasburg pitched a masterful seven innings, holding New York to just a single run while fanning a dozen batters before giving up a home run to pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson to tie the score at 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning.
Two batters later, Strasburg was gone – replaced by the Nats’ onetime fireman-turned-goat, Drew Storen, who promptly served up a two-run homer to the Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes, thus completing the Nats’s cycle of head-banging relief pitching doom.
In losing three straight to the Mets, the Nationals have now fallen a season-high seven games back in the National League East – a gap that appears insurmountable with 23 games left, given the team’s pitiful bullpen problems. Nats relievers gave up 12 runs in the three-game series.
“I feel for those guys getting out there and giving up runs because they’re not intending to, that’s for sure,” said Nationals manager Matt Williams, who has drawn more than a little heat of late for his handling of the pitching staff.
The loss wasted another MVP performance by Bryce Harper, who scored all three of the Nationals’ runs, going 3 for 4 at the plate with two solo homers and a double.
The Nationals now head to Miami to face the Marlins, while the Mets are treated to a series against the reeling Braves.
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