A day after acting general manager Zack Scott called the Mets’ current stretch “unacceptably bad,” they took a step toward rinsing off the stench.
It required some help from a Nationals roster that was dismantled at the trade deadline, but the Mets gladly accepted it as they snapped a four-game losing streak with an 8-7 comeback win Wednesday at Citi Field.
In the resumption of the game that began Tuesday night and was suspended by rain in the second inning, the Mets erased a pair of three-run deficits to win their first game in a week. The nightcap of the doubleheader was postponed by rain, with another twin bill now scheduled for Thursday beginning at 12:10 p.m.
Brandon Drury continued to come through in the clutch as a pinch hitter, blooping a single past a drawn-in infield in the eighth inning to score Jonathan Villar to put the Mets ahead — capturing their first lead since last Wednesday against the Marlins.
“It shows who we are as an offensive team,” manager Luis Rojas said. “It’s been tough to watch at times, just for the number of days we weren’t doing what we did tonight. … We just gotta keep believing in that’s who we are and keep going game to game with the same approach.”
Villar had reached on an error earlier in the inning while trying to put down a sacrifice bunt. Instead, J.D. Davis, who led off with a double, came around to score the tying run as Nationals reliever Mason Thompson’s throw to first was wild.
Edwin Diaz closed out the win in the ninth as the Mets (57-55) won for just the second time in nine games. They also snapped an 18-game streak of scoring five runs or fewer, which was tied for their second-longest streak in the last 10 seasons.
Beginning with Thursday’s doubleheader — single-admission, with both games seven innings — the Mets still have 10 games left this season against the Nationals (50-63). They will need to take advantage of that in order to climb back into playoff position.
“It’s going to be like this for the next month and a half — very intense games,” said Rich Hill, who volunteered to start Wednesday’s resumption and gave up three runs over three innings as a bridge to the bullpen.
Pete Alonso had narrowly missed out on tying the game in the seventh inning with a shot to left-center field. He was forced to settle for an RBI double off the top of the wall, scoring Brandon Nimmo from first to get the Mets within 7-6. It came after Michael Conforto’s RBI single in the fifth inning scored Jeff McNeil from first to make it 7-5.
Entering the day with a 3-1 deficit, Hill quickly let it grow to 4-1 when he allowed an inherited runner to score on a Victor Robles’ double to left field, which Dominic Smith leapt for near the wall but could not catch.
The Mets began their comeback in the third inning off Joe Ross. Nimmo led off with a double and scored on a single by McNeil to make it 4-2. Alonso then shot a single through the left side before Smith flew out to deep left-center field, allowing McNeil and Alonso to tag up to third and second, respectively.
Conforto came up next and hit a weak ground ball to first base, but it was enough to score McNeil to close within 4-3. Davis then tied the game when he roped a two-out double to left field.
After Hill spotted the Nationals another three-run lead, 7-4 in the fifth inning, the Mets began another comeback for their biggest offensive output since July 19.
“This is what we’ve done for the most part this year, is just fight and find our way into really, really big wins,” Rojas said. “We’ve had a lot of big wins; this is one of them. I think it just shows who we are.”