Washington Nationals 11-4 over New York Mets: Nats score eleven unanswered runs

With Sunday's win, Washington snapped their seven-game game losing streak, and the Nationals finished their ten-game road trip 3-7, with a 24-20 record on the road this season.

At home in the nation's capital, where the Nationals took on the New York Mets tonight, they were 20-12 before the start of their three-game set with their divisional rivals.

Dusty Baker told reporters before today's game that as bad as the road trip was, things could have been worse.

This week's three-game set with the Mets got underway with Washington 3.0 games up on New York in the NL East.

"We come home and have a good homestand against these Mets and it will be just right back where we left with 14 less games on the schedule," Baker explained.

"That's how we're looking at it. We could have lost a whole lot more ground than we did. So, we feel very fortunate and I'm just glad to be home."

Back in D.C. tonight, the Nationals knocked Noah Syndergaard out early, and piled on the runs in what ended up an 11-4 win.

Curtis Granderson and Yoenis Cespedes hit leadoff and one-out singles, respectively, off Nats' starter Joe Ross in the first and Neil Walker's sac fly to center brought Granderson in for an early 1-0 Mets' lead.

Syndergaard took the mound with a 1-0 lead and an eight-start (nine-appearance) unbeaten streak going, over which he was (6-0) with a 1.71 ERA and a .228/.234/.345 line against in 52 ⅔ IP.

New York's right-handed ace gave up a single and back-to-back walks to load the bases with no one out, but a force at home on a grounder to first base by Daniel Murphy and an inning-ending 5-4-3 from Wilson Ramos got the long-haired starter out of early trouble with the Mets' lead in tact.

Granderson connected for the third single of the Mets' second with two down, lining one to right field to bring rookie outfielder Brandon Nimmo around after Nimmo collected his first major league hit. 2-0 NY.

Neil Walker singled and James Loney doubled in the first two at bats of the third, and they both scored on a single to center by Wilmer Flores that made it 4-0 Mets.

Ben Revere singled to right and stole second in the Nats' half of the third, however, and Bryce Harper stepped in, after a walk to Jayson Werth, and lined a 1-0 slider from Syndergaard to right field, off the top of the W.B. Mason ad on the outfield wall for an RBI single that got the Nationals on the board, 4-1.

Werth scored on a fielder's choice grounder to short off Daniel Murphy's bat, 4-2 Mets.

Ryan Zimmerman K'd swinging for out No. 2, but Anthony Rendon came through with a two-run single to right that tied it up at 4-4, and Danny Espinosa's two-out RBI single put the Nationals ahead, 5-4 after three.

That was it for Syndergaard, who left the mound after giving up seven hits, three walks and five runs in three innings.

Sean Gilmartin gave up a run in the fourth as the Nationals took a two-run lead with Ben Revere singling, stealing second and scoring on an RBI single to right by Daniel Murphy, 6-4 Nationals.

Revere was 3 for 3 at the plate and on the basepaths after four following the single and stolen base and the Nationals were 6 for 6 in stolen bases on the night, setting a franchise record (2005-present).

Rendon singled and scored in the Nationals' fifth, coming around from first on a double to left by Danny Espinosa, 7-4, and Espinosa scored on a grounder to first by Ben Revere, beating James Loney's throw home, 8-4.

Two more scored on a two-run double to center by Jayson Werth, that made it 10-4 Nationals after five. It was 11-4 after six following a walk by Ramos, a double to left by Ryan Zimmerman and a sac fly by Anthony Rendon.

Joe Ross's Line: 6.0 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks, 94 P, 65 S, 3/2 GO/FO.

Felipe Rivero threw a scoreless seventh, getting a double play and a grounder to short after he gave up back-to-back singles. He came back out for the eighth and another scoreless frame.

Rafael Martin, who was called up today, and will likely head right back to Syracuse, worked a scoreless ninth for the Nationals to end it. 11-4 final. Ballgame.

Nationals now 45-32

NATS NOTES:

• Heading into this week's three-game series, New York has won 4 of 6 and 5 of 10, and 11 of the Mets' next 14 games are against first-place teams, seven with the Washington Nationals and four against the Chicago Cubs.
• New York has won 5 of their last 6 in D.C. heading into this week's series.
• Washington's seven-game losing streak was the team's longest since 2009. The Nationals' 44-32 record heading into their ten-game homestand was the third-best in the NL, behind only the San Francisco Giants (49-28) and the Chicago Cubs (48-26).
• New York's hitters, as a team, have 96 home runs on the year, with 19 in their last 17 games and they've hit 14 home runs total in their last six games in Nationals Park.
• Washington's backup backstop, Jose Lobaton, connected for the Nationals' 100th home run on the season on Sunday. It went out in the Nats' 76th game of the year, the fastest by far that the Nationals have reached 100 HRs in a season, with the previous mark 93 games in 2006.
• In today's Mets-themed "Fun with Arbitrary End Points" segment: New York slugger Yoenis Cespedes is 21 for 60 (.350 AVG) with three home runs and eight multi-hit games... in his last 16 games played.
• Cespedes starts the series in D.C. with a .385 AVG, four doubles and three home runs in six games in Nationals Park in his career.
• Mets' starter Noah Syndergaard took the mound with a streak of six winless decisions dating back to May 11th, with a 1.71 ERA, four walks and 61 Ks in eight starts (nine appearances) over that unbeaten streak.
• Syndergaard has the fastest fastball in the majors so far this year (98.1 mph), fastest slider (91.3 mph) and changeup (90.1 mph average).
• Mets' closer Jeurys Familia is 26 for 26 in save opportunities this season, and he's saved 42 consecutive regular season games.
• Daniel Murphy started the night leading the majors in AVG (.349) and leading the NL in hits (98) and multi-hit games (31).
• In today's Nationals-themed "Fun with Arbitrary End Points" segment: Jayson Werth is 22 for 61 (.361/.474/.492) with five doubles and a home run, 14 walks and 10 runs scored... in 14 games since June 7th.
• Werth has hit safely in 14 of 16 games over that stretch, with eight multi-hit games.

Nationals now 45-32