Mets slay Nationals, keep the wild card infantry at arms length

Mets 12 Nationals 6 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 80-74

Mets streak: Won 2

WP - Brooks Raley (2-0

LP - Andrew Alvarez (1-1)

Seat on the Korner:

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Juan Soto's three run dinger in the 4th gave the Mets the cushion they needed in a 9-6 victory over Washington on Friday. Soto would finish up with two hits, three RBI, two walks and a steal.

Need to Know

• With the Mets win combined with the Reds' win over the Cubs, the Mets remain two games ahead of the Reds for the final wild card spot. The Mets are now 2.5 games ahead of Arizona and 3.5 ahead of San Francisco pending the outcomes of their games late tonight.

• This was the Mets' 11th straight victory over the Nationals at Citi Field dating back to July of 2023.

• Soto's three run jack in the 4th inning set a new career high for homers in a season with 42.

• Soto became the first player to go 40/100 in his first season with a New York Team ... twice. Babe Ruth, Jason Giambi, and Pete Alonso were the first three players to do it.

• Soto's steal of second marked 92 straight steals of second against catchers. The last time they were thrown out by a catcher was May 20th.

• Francisco Lindor finished up with three hits, four runs scored, a walk and an RBI. It's his 20th game of the season with three or more hits.

• Brandon Sproat was pulled after four innings. He gave up four runs on four hits and two walks while striking out five.

Turning Point

The Mets had played a confounding, confusing, and slightly insulting top of the third, giving up four runs thanks to solid contact and defensive folly. Down 4-1. some Mets teams with a glass jaw would have never recovered. Heck, this Mets team might not have recovered early in the season.

But they scratched out a run in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to 4-2, thanks in part to Dylan Crews' second error of the game (his first error led directly to the Mets first run. Then after the Mets got two runners on in the 4th, Francisco Alvarez brought them back level ...

The Mets rode that wave to the go ahead run on a Francisco Lindor single (and another outfield error), and then the big blow by Soto to give them the margin they needed.

Three Keys

The Insanity Of Numbers

Here are some insane numbers from Juan Soto: Since June 8th (385 PAs, 313 at-bats) and headed into tonight, Soto has a slash of .284/.411/.601, with 30 HRs, 69 RBI, 26 steals, and 67 walks. That's almost a 30-30 season in 3 and 1/2 months out of the six.

The most insane number: In that time frame, the Mets are somehow 38-49. It's almost like a reverse deGrom.

Dote On Sproat

Brandon Sproat wasn't as bad as his line indicated. He looked really good against a free swinging Nationals team in three of the four innings he pitched. He used his off speed stuff the set up the hard stuff, working backwards and flummoxing the Nationals.

But he had one tough inning in the third, and his misfortune came after he threw a ball into right field on a dribbler down the third base line hit by Jorge Alfaro. He got a double play from James Wood, but after that, he gave up hard contact to C.J. Abrams, Josh Bell, and Daylen Lile.

And if we're honest, the hit to Bell should have been an out as Jose Siri dropped it after a long run to left center. And then Siri took a terrible route on Lile's ball and turned a single into a triple. (Aside: I hadn't heard boos that loud for a player at Citi Field since Chase Utley's introduction before Game 3 of the 2015 NLDS.)

But after that, Sproat was back on his horse in the 4th, retiring the Nationals 1-2-3. It was surprising that Carlos Mendoza pulled him at that point after just 71 pitches.

Are Hell's Bells Ringing Again?

Ryan Helsley pitched a 1-2-3 7th inning against the Nationals with a two run lead. It's his third straight scoreless outing and 4th in his last 5. It's also his first scorless outing in a win with less than a 10 run margin since August 17th.

After Huascar Brazoban gave up a homer to C.J. Abrams, the bullpen of Brooks Raley, Ryne Stanek, Helsley, Tyler Rogers, and Chris Devenski shut the Nats down with no further damage. But Helsley's inning was the most surprising and encouraging.

If the Mets are going to make the playoffs and have success, they need to have Ryan Helsley among the living. Pitching with a two run lead and holding a team scoreless is a huge development. He'll need more, so the Mets can't write him off. They have to get him back in the circle of trust to re-join Rogers and Diaz for the final third of the game.