Mets edge Nationals, trade closer
NEW YORK — Mark Canha hit a sacrifice fly immediately after a 97-minute rain delay in the bottom of the eighth inning, lifting the New York Mets to a 2-1 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.
After the game, the Mets announced they traded closer David Robertson — who was warming up before the rain delay — to the Miami Marlins in exchange for a pair of rookie-ball prospects.
The Mets, who began the season with a $353 million payroll, are 48-54 and seven games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds for the last two wild-card spots.
The Mets, who had four warning-track outs against Nationals starter Josiah Gray, tied the score by stringing together three straight one-out singles — the last an RBI hit into right field by Daniel Vogelbach — against Mason Thompson (3-4). DJ Stewart was then plunked by a pitch to load the bases, and Thompson
was removed for Kyle Finnegan moments before umpires motioned the teams off the field.
After play resumed, Canha hit Finnegan’s fifth pitch to deep right field and Pete Alonso beat the throw home.
David Peterson (3-7) allowed three hits in two innings before Brooks Raley notched his second save with a hitless ninth.
Neither Gray nor Mets starter Kodai Senga factored into the decisions following strong six-inning outings. Gray gave up two hits and struck out four, while Senga allowed one run on two hits with five strikeouts.
Keibert Ruiz had a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for the Nationals, who left the bases loaded against Senga in the sixth and
stranded eight runners overall. Lane Thomas hit into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners against Peterson in the seventh.
“We get guys on third base with less than two outs, in games like this, those runs are important,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We’ve got to have better at-bats.”