Wood drives in go-ahead run, Garcia homers twice in the Nationals’ 7-5 victory over the Mets

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This article was published 03/07/2024 (491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON (AP) — James Wood singled home the go-ahead run in his third major league game, Luis García Jr. hit two homers and the Washington Nationals rallied to beat the New York Mets 7-5 on Wednesday night.

Wood, Washington’s top prospect who made his debut this week, drove in Lane Thomas with a hit off Jake Diekman in the seventh, then stole his first career base moments later. He also singled and scored in the sixth, part of the Nationals’ comeback from a five-run deficit.

“It was just electric,” said Wood, who drew a walk in his first at-bat. “We had a pretty good crowd tonight, so we were feeling that energy and just feeding off of that.”

Jacob Barnes (4-2) threw a perfect seventh in relief of Mitchell Parker to get the victory as the Nationals ended a three-game skid and won for just the second time in their last nine. The Mets fell back to .500.

The Mets’ beleaguered, overtaxed bullpen finally cost them after doing enough to string together consecutive 10-inning wins. Diekman (2-3) allowed two runs on two hits, getting just one out, as things again got hairy with closer Edwin Díaz still serving his 10-game suspension.

“They grind out at-bats and kind of make you hurt yourself and it snowballed,” Diekman said. “You just keep grinding it out. We know he’ll be back soonish. It’s kind of like a revolving door.”

The bullpen implosion was enough to keep rookie starter Christian Scott from picking up his first major league win in his first appearance since May 30. Scott did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the fourth and exited after giving up Garcia’s three-run homer in the sixth.

“Where we’re at bullpen-wise, after he got that pop up for the second out, I was trying to squeeze one more hitter and that didn’t work,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously, probably a pitch that he wish he had that one back because he was pretty good all the way to that point.”

Garcia also went deep off Ty Adcock in the eighth to add an insurance run. It is his second multi-home run game and first since Aug. 4, 2021.

Scott allowed four earned runs on six hits and two walks and struck out two in 5 2/3 innings. New York got two-run home runs from Mark Vientos and Francisco Lindor and a solo shot from Tyrone Taylor.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Mets: CF Harrison Bader did not play after leaving Tuesday night because of a sore neck/upper back after crashing into the outfield wall. Mendoza said Bader was getting treatment, but did not think an MRI was necessary yet. … RHP Kodai Senga (shoulder/triceps) struck out six with no walks and no hits in 2 2/3 innings in his first minor league rehab start for High-A Brooklyn.

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Nationals: LHP Jose Ferrer, who has been sidelined since spring training because of a teres major strain in his non-throwing shoulder, was cleared to advance to Double-A in his minor league rehab process. Manager Dave Martinez said Ferrer throwing 99 mph with no issues allowed for that step, but the organization still wants to see the 24-year-old reliever pitch on back to back days before bringing him back.

UP NEXT

In the traditional 11:05 a.m. start in Washington on the Fourth of July, the Mets turn to LHP Jose Quintana (3-5, 4.57 ERA) in the series finale against RHP Jake Irvin (6-6, 3.03) and the Nationals.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb