Joe Ross didn’t have it this afternoon. Washington’s 26-year-old starter gave up eight hits, three walks, and seven earned runs in 3 2⁄3 innings pitched in the series opener with New York’s Mets, who cruised to a 7-3 win in Nationals Park, snapping the Nats’ four-game win streak.
Ross vs the Mets: Joe Ross was (3-0), with a 1.05 ERA, 13 walks, 16 Ks, and a .200/.301/.267 line against in five starts 25 2⁄3 innings pitched in August, which left the 26-year-old right-hander (3-1) with a 1.74 ERA, 15 walks, 22 strikeouts, and a .232/.323/.313 line against in his six appearances and 32 IP overall as a starter this season, after he started the year working in relief.
Ross hadn’t started since August 24th before taking the mound this afternoon in the series opener with the New York Mets in the nation’s capital.
After a scoreless, 13-pitch first, Ross got into trouble in the second, with J.D. Davis singling on a 2-2 slider, moving up on a walk to Brandon Nimmo, and scoring one out later on a Joe Panik double off the wall in right-center field, 1-0, before Nimmo scored on an RBI single to right by René Rivera, 2-0.
Joe Panik putting in work on Labor Day. pic.twitter.com/l81LiKQCmU
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 2, 2019
Rivera took the third walk of the game from Ross with one out in the top of the fourth, and one out later he scored on a two-run home run to right by Jeff McNeil, who crushed a first-pitch sinker that was right over the middle of the plate, 4-0.
Something about @JeffMcNeil805 and the first pitch... pic.twitter.com/1ps2CyVX3C
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 2, 2019
Back-to-back singles followed the home run, and a two-run double by J.D. Davis made it a 6-0 game and ended Ross’s outing after 85 pitches in 3 2⁄3 IP...
The swing of @JDDavis26.
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 2, 2019
The energy from #Mets fans at the park.
Beautiful. pic.twitter.com/GVqZpsqSge
Joe Ross’s Line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 4 Ks, 1 HR, 85 P, 53 S, 3/2 GO/FO.
Syndergaard vs the Nats: Noah Syndergaard was (2-1) with a 1.73 ERA, five walks, 19 Ks, and a .183/.224/.269 line against in 26 IP, but he finished the month of August with a rough start on the road in Wrigley Field, giving up nine hits and 10 runs (nine earned) in three innings of work in what ended up a 10-7 loss.
Syndergaard told reporters after that outing that he was, “... sick and tired of not being super comfortable, and kind of unathletic, on the mound,” and said the Cubs had taken advantage of his struggles.
“The numbers looked good, but in terms of being comfortable on the mound, I felt the same,” Syndergaard. “The Cubs just really exposed that.”
Syndergaard tossed three scoreless innings on 45 pitches this afternoon in Nationals Park, as the Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and came back out for the fourth with a 7-0 lead and retired the Nationals in order, before doing it again in the fifth, for 15-straight outs after the leadoff single by Trea Turner which started the home-half of the first.
Thor, Nasty 91mph Changeup...and Sword. ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/BWc13MXmIR
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 2, 2019
Andrew Stevenson singled with one out in the sixth, snapping Syndergaard’s streak of retired batters at 16 in a row, but the Mets’ starter completed his sixth scoreless frame.
Noah Syndergaard’s Line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 Ks, 90 P, 64 S, 7/0 GO/FO.
Rend-on-base & Victor ROBPles: Anthony Rendon started the series with the New York Mets with a 17-game on-base streak going, over which he was 31 for 69 (.449/.513/.855), with seven doubles, seven homers, and nine walks (vs nine Ks). He extended the streak when he walked in his second trip to the plate on Sunday.
Victor Robles entered the first of three with the Mets in D.C. with a 19-game on-base streak, which he extended when he was hit by a pitch in his second trip to the plate on Sunday.
Robles was 24 for 73 (.329/.398/.521) over the course of his streak, with eight doubles, two home runs, six walks, and three HBPs.
Rendon doubled to lead off the Nationals’ seventh, extending his on-base streak to 18 in-a-row.
Robles went hitless in the game. So long, on-base streak.
BULLPEN ACTION: Austin Voth took over for Joe Ross with a runner on second and two out in the fourth, with the Mets ahead, 6-0, and gave up an RBI double by Brandon Nimmo, 7-0, before he got the final out of the frame.
Voth kept going with scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth before Erick Fedde took over on the mound for the Nationals, and tossed as scoreless, 11-pitch top of the seventh.
No. 88 makes a spectacular catch in what's still a one-possession game.
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 2, 2019
Hoping the offense can make the most of the upcoming drive. pic.twitter.com/Cw5hq8JY9L
Fedde worked around back-to-back, one-out walks in the top of the eighth.
Tyler Bashlor came on for the Mets in the bottom of the eighth, and retired the side in order in an eight-pitch frame.
Tanner Rainey tossed a scoreless top of the ninth, working around a two-out single by Amed Rosario.
Bashlor returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning and gave up a leadoff single by Trea Turner, a walk to Anthony Rendon with one down, and a two-out, three-run home run to right by Asdrúbal Cabrera, 7-3. Cabrera’s 15th.
Edwin Díaz came on to get the final out, and struck Matt Adams out to end it.
Nationals now 77-59