Quiet, then the seventh

Saturday afternoon in Washington, overcast, the wind blowing in. For six innings the Mets couldn't hit anything, and it looked like the season would just fade out.

Mets 7, Nationals 1. Jonah Tong kept it close. Five innings, three hits, one run, and a career-high nine strikeouts. The rookie gave his team a chance on a day it didn't look like it wanted one. Washington's only run came on a sacrifice fly in the third.

Then the seventh, with two outs. A.J. Ewing had gone 0-for-10. He took an 0-2 curveball over the wall in right-center for three runs and the lead. Three pitches later Ronny Mauricio homered to right, his first home run since May 1. The eighth and ninth hitters went back-to-back.

The Mets scored another in the eighth on a Washington error. In the ninth Mauricio homered again, a two-run shot. That gave him home runs from both sides of the plate and the first multi-homer game of his career. Carson Benge went 3-for-5 with a double. Dedniel Núñez got the win.

Some days in a lost season belong to the guys at the bottom of the lineup. The Mets are 74–87. #LGM