NEW YORK _ If there's one solace to be had, it's that it's almost over.
The Mets went into the series against the Nationals with the modest goal of leaving no worse than they came in, but that particular dream was shattered Saturday afternoon as their foes once again made easy work of a team patched together with Scotch tape and Terry Collins' most fervent hopes. Behind a solid performance form Stephen Strasburg, the Nationals beat the Mets, 7-4 in the third game of a four-game series. The Mets have lost the first three.
They came into this series having won five of six, and will leave it Sunday having absolutely lost ground, and much worse for wear. Matt Harvey, Josh Smoker, Asdrubal Cabrera, Neil Walker and Juan Lagares have all been casualties of this past week, and their presence on the disabled list further cements the notion that this is a team in tailspin. On Saturday, Seth Lugo could not replicate the results of his strong first outing, and instead gave up a run in the first, second, third and fourth inning. The Mets didn't get on the board until that fourth, when Yoenis Cespedes scored on Wilmer Flores' double play.
Lugo pitched capably against a dangerous lineup _ allowing four runs on seven hits in 62/3 innings. Trea Turner led off the game with a home run, on Lugo's second pitch. Jose Lobaton hit only his second home run of the year in the second, and Daniel Murphy continued to torment his old team with an RBI double in the third. Lobaton scored in the fourth on a throwing error.
Down 4-1 in the sixth, the Mets got one, but left a whole lot more on the table. After back-to-back singles by Cespedes and Jay Bruce, Wilmer Flores hit a mid-depth sacrifice fly, with Cespedes only barely eluding the tag. Strasburg then walked Duda, before the Nationals tapped into their one true weakness, the bullpen. This time, though, Blake Treinen induced a double play off the bat of T.J. Rivera, stranding two.
Strasburg allowed two earned runs in 51/3 innings, with two walks and five strikeouts.
Adam Lind hit a two-run homer off Paul Sewald in the eighth to make it 6-3, but the Mets got one back in the bottom of the inning on Cespedes' solo home run to left. Jose Reyes' two-out single with two outs in the inning cut the deficit to 6-4. But Rene Rivera struck out, his fourth of the day, to end the threat. Rendon's double off Addison Reed in the ninth provided the final margin.
