September 7th 2015 -- Mets 8, Nationals 5

Labor Day afternoon David Wright’s RBI single in the 7^th inning broke a 5 all tie the Mets beat the Nationals 8-5. The Mets got out to an early 3 run lead against Max Scherzer.  In the 2^nd inning, Michael Conforto started the scoring with an opposite field solo homer, his 6^th on the year to make it 1-0. Two batters later Kelly Johnson added his own solo shot, his 4^th as a Met and 13^th on the year and it was 2-0. In the third, the scorching hot Yoenis Cespedes hit his 13^th homer as a Met, his 31^st on the year and 5^th homer in 6 games to make it 3-0. In the 4^th, Met starter Jon Niese yielded a 5 run inning for his 3^rd straight outing.  With no out, the Nationals loaded the bases on back to back singles by Ryan Zimmerman and Yunel Escobar. Ian Desmond walked. Then Met killer Wilson Ramos hit a grand slam homer, his 13^th homer on the year for a 4-3 Washington lead.  Michael Taylor then singled, was sacrificed to 2^nd and scored on a long double by Jason Werth to cap the inning. In the 5t the Mets made it 5-4 on back to back doubles by Ruben Tejada and Curtis Granderson. In the 6^th, Cespedes doubled, was balked to third and scored on a Travis d’Arnaud sac-fly to tie the game at 5.  In the 7^th the Mets took the lead for good scoring three times. Flores singled, Tejada walked and David Wright came through with an RBI single to make it 6-5. Daniel Murphy followed with a sac-fly to make it 7-5. Cespedes got his third hit, a double to score Wright from first and it was 8-5. Niese left after 3 1/3. He allowed 5 runs (all earned) on 7 hits while walking 3 and striking out 1.  Carlos Torres came in to relieve Niese but had to leave with a calf strain. Dario Alvarez made his 1^st appearance and struck out Bryce Harper to end the 6^th. Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless 7^th and 8^th striking out 4. Jeurys Familia pitched the 9^th notching his 37^th save. Blake Treinen takes the loss falling to 2-3. For striking out Harper and retiring the side in the 6^th, Alvarez gets the win he’s now 1-0. Cespedes has 11 home runs in his past 17 games and 24 extra base hits in 34 games with Mets. He went 3 for 5 on the day with 2 doubles, the homer and 2 RBI. Granderson went 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles.  With the win the Mets improve to 76-61 overall and 31-37 on the road. The Mets gain a full game on the Nats and now lead by 5 full games in the NL East. Tuesday night it’s game two of the series. Matt Harvey (12-7 2.60) goes for the Mets, Jordan Zimmermann (12-8 3.38) goes for Washington.