NEW YORK _ When the Mets' lack of success on the field first started to indicate they would be a trade-deadline seller, the notion the team might trade Jacob deGrom or Noah Syndergaard dominated the headlines and airwaves. Less conspicuously, however, several contenders sent scouts to look at Zack Wheeler. His performance on Saturday should only turn up their interest in him.
The right-hander was very strong through seven innings before finally unravelling as he crossed the 100-pitch mark in the eighth in a 7-4 victory over the Nationals before 30,438 at Citi Field.
Wheeler had allowed just one run over his first seven innings on 96 pitches when manager Mickey Callaway opted to send him out for the eighth, where he recorded just two outs and gave up three runs. His 113th and final pitch went for a two-run homer by Matt Adams and made the score 7-4.
For the second night in a row the Mets took an early 3-0 lead, but they really put some distance between themselves and the Nats with a four-run fifth that included a three-run homer by Michael Conforto. The struggling outfielder's 11th homer of the season was his first since June 26 and ended a run of 50 straight at-bats without one.
The Mets haven't won a series since sweeping Arizona in mid-May _ a stretch of 15 in a row _ but could take this one from Washington with a win on Sunday.
Wheeler (3-6) hadn't recorded a win since April 29 _ a run of 13 straight starts _ but that doesn't mean he hasn't pitched well at times. Inside that drought are seven quality starts, six of which ended as no-decisions because of the Mets' anemic offense. In two of them he pitched seven scoreless innings.
Wheeler's threw 72/3 innings allowing four runs, eight hits and two walks with seven strikeouts. Anthony Swarzak got the final out in the eighth and Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless ninth for his 17th save.
The Mets took a 3-0 lead with a three-run rally in the second inning. Wilmer Flores, Kevin Plawecki and Jose Reyes opened the inning with singles to load the bases. Amed Rosario's run-scoring single to right field put the Mets on the board and Wheeler's sacrifice fly into left-center doubled the margin. Brandon Nimmo's groundout to the right side scored the third run.
Conforto's home run was the centerpiece as the Mets rallied for the four runs in the fifth.
Asdrubal Cabrera and Jose Bautista drew one-out walks ahead of Conforto. He took a 1-and-2 pitch from Voth over the fence in right-center field, a distance of 375 feet according to Statcast. The Mets would get three more hits including a run-scoring single by Reyes before Voth was lifted with the score 7-0.
Washington finally got on the board in the top of the sixth. The Nats loaded the bases with singles by Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon around a walk to Juan Soto and that brought up Byrce Harper.
Wheeler had whiffed Harper on a 98-mph fastball in the first and got him to fly out in the fourth. The Washington star, who had 23 home runs entering the game, tied for second most in the National League, did not get the Nats back into the game but did get them on the board with an RBI single to right-center. Wheeler snuffed the threat by getting Adams to hit into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
