Raburn’s hit with 2 outs in 9th gets Nationals by Mets
WASHINGTON » Ryan Raburn drove in the gamewinning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Washington Nationals survived another bullpen collapse for a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets on Monday night.
Curtis Granderson tied the game with a two-out, two-run homer off Nationals reliever Matt Albers (41). Granderson’s heroics came after Michael Taylor’s two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth broke a scoreless tie.
Matt Wieters opened the ninth with a walk against Paul Sewald (0-3), moved to second following a sacrifice bunt and took third on Adam Lind’s deep fly ball. Following Stephen Drew’s walk, Raburn’s slow, looping liner to left field off Fernando Salas fell in front of a diving Yoenis Cespedes, scoring Wieters.
Nationals left fielder Brian Goodwin kept the game scoreless in the top of the eighth by throwing out Brandon Nimmo trying to score from second on Jose Reyes’ base hit.
Washington’s Stephen Strasburg and Mets starter Steven Matz each tossed seven scoreless innings in their respective no-decisions.
Washington has won back-to-back games after dropping three in a row.
New York lost its second consecutive game after winning four straight and seven of eight.
Strasburg, one of five Nationals chosen to the 2017 NL All-Star team, allowed two hits with six strikeouts and three walks in his third start against New York this season.
The right-hander did not allow a hit after Reyes’ single in the third and retired the final 10 batters. That stretch started by striking out Travis d’Arnaud looking with the bases loaded in the fourth after Strasburg walked three batters.
The Nationals are 8-3 against the Mets this season.
Matz allowed four hits and four strikeouts. He extended his scoreless innings streak to 17. Matz has worked at least six innings in 10 straight starts.
Washington put two runners on against Matz in the first, second and fourth innings, but went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position in those spots. All-Star Ryan Zimmerman grounded into an inning-ending double play in the first.
Trainer’s room
Mets: Granderson wasn’t in the starting lineup for the second game in a row due a mysterious right hip muscle strain sustained in Saturday’s win against Philadelphia. “We’re actually trying to find out how it occurred. Curtis doesn’t have any idea,” said manager Terry Collins.
Nationals: After a late return home from a weekend series in Cincinnati and with Tuesday’s 11:05 a.m. first pitch, manager Dusty Baker said he would tweak the starting lineups to help with rest. All-Star 2B Daniel Murphy was out of the starting lineup Monday, but grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Up next
Mets: RHP Seth Lugo (3-1, 3.55 ERA) earned his third win in four starts by allowing three runs in six innings at Miami on June 29.
Nationals: RHP Joe Ross (4-3, 5.12) is 1-1 with a 2.28 ERA over his last three starts.