Steven Matz allowed Trea Turner to single and steal two bases to lead off the first and the Nationals never looked back in their 25-4 thrashing of the Mets.

Matz was serving up batting practice to the entire Nationals lineup and never made it out of the first inning. The biggest blow came off the bat of the opposing pitcher. Tanner Roark hit a bases-clearing double and Matz’s night was done shortly thereafter. He left with two-outs and the team down 7-0. Wilmer Flores did misplay two balls but everything was hard hit against the lefty.

Jacob Rhame put an end to the madness in the first, but allowed Washington to pour it on in the next two innings. The Nationals scored all their runs in the first without hitting a home run, but that all changed in the second when Daniel Murphy went deep, and then he did it again for good measure the following inning. Murphy had six RBIs after three innings.

Tim Peterson was the next victim. He gave up a RBI double to Bryce Harper and a two-run home run to Ryan Zimmerman to make it 16-0. Tyler Bashlor also allowed the Nationals to put up a three-spot and what would be an embarrassing football score became a humiliating 19-0 baseball score.

Once Bashlor was out of the game, the pitching settled down some with Jerry Blevins and Drew Smith pitching clean innings, but Jose Reyes struggled in his debut. He gave up a two-run home run to Matt Adams, a three-run home run to Mark Reynolds, and a RBI triple to Wilmer Difo.

Getting down by seven runs right off the bat is a tall order for any team, and with the Nationals never letting up, the Met offense rolled over and didn’t put up much of a fight. The lone bright spot was rookie Jeff McNeil who hit his first major league home run to break up the shutout. He also drove in their second run in the ninth and was on base for Austin Jackson’s first home run as a Met to cut the lead to twenty-one. Alas, Amed Rosario grounded out and the comeback fell short.

Full recap to follow.

GameThread Roll Call

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