The Nationals won this game 6-1 behind a 7.0 inning gem by Max Scherzer and 4 RBIs by Daniel Murphy. The Nationals widened their lead over the 2nd place Mets to 5.0 full games in the NL East. The Nats improve their season series record to 8-4 against the Mets. After tomorrow’s game, the Nationals and Mets will not meet again until September 2nd.
Terry Collins made some questionable moves in a double-switch to bring in Antonio Bastardo to face Daniel Murphy when the score was 4-1, and Murphy took advantage and crushed a 2-run HR to make the score 6-1. The Mets were playing short on their bench as Yoenis Cespedes was not available after injuring his quadricep muscle yesterday, and Collins took out a key lefty James Loney on the double-switch.
Max Scherzer pitched great after a shaky first inning in which the Nationals gave up an unearned run on a throwing error by Jayson Werth. After the 1st inning, Max Scherzer cruised through the rest of his outing.
Daniel Murphy had 3 hits tonight and was shy of hitting for the cycle by the elusive triple. Murphy raised his batting average to .349 and his OPS climbed to .981.
Ruth 1st 12 G vs BOS, 1920:
.293/.420/.732, 5 HR, 12 RBIMurph 1st 12 G vs NYM, 2016:
.438/.462/.875, 6 HR, 19 RBI pic.twitter.com/dHXesWCjdz— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 10, 2016
“We’ve seen it,” New York manager Terry Collins said. “He’s pumped up to play against us and show us we made a mistake. It’s human nature, and it’s part of the game. We’ve just got to make better pitches. We’re giving him balls to hit. You look at the tape at the end of games and, boy, they’re all good pitches to hit. We’ve got to do a better job.”
