Jose Quintana extended his scoreless streak to a career-high 22 2/3 innings, and Brandon Nimmo’s three-run homer capped a nine-run fourth inning as the New York Mets easily defeated the Washington Nationals 10-0 on Wednesday night, completing a three-game sweep.
Luisangel Acuña also hit a home run for the Mets (84-68), who have won 15 out of their last 19 games. They are now 16 games above .500, tied with Arizona for the second of three NL wild-card spots and two games ahead of Atlanta for the last playoff position.
“I’m pretty much convinced now we’re not in the regular season anymore,” Nimmo said. “We’re in playoff baseball and every win is extremely important. It decides whether we keep playing or not.”
Acuña, Mark Vientos, and Starling Marte each contributed two RBIs as the Mets followed a 10-1 victory on Tuesday night with another dominant performance against Washington.
New York finished the season with an 11-2 record against the Nationals, their best mark against a single team since going 10-1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1988.
“We’re close to the finish of the season and we’re in good position,” Quintana said. “We feel really strong.” Quintana (10-9) gave up two hits, walked two batters, and struck out four over seven innings, continuing his strong performance against the Nationals.
He held Washington scoreless for 21 innings across three starts, marking the most innings a Mets pitcher has thrown against one team in a season without allowing a run.
“He doesn’t throw many balls right over the heart of the plate,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “He nibbles a lot, but you’ve got to get up there and be ready to hit when it does come over the plate.”
Quintana hasn’t given up a run since the third inning against the Chicago White Sox on August 31. His previous best scoreless streak was 20 2/3 innings in 2014.
The veteran left-handed pitcher has now won four games in a row and allowed just one earned run in 32 innings over his last five starts, giving him a remarkable 0.28 ERA during that time.
“He’s been in the league for a long time and there’s a reason why,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He knows that you’re going to go through stretches where it’s hard. And he’ll continue to find a way. It’s just basically trusting his pitches, his repertoire, in the strike zone.”
In the fourth inning, the Mets sent 12 batters to the plate against DJ Herz and Jacob Barnes, marking their biggest inning since scoring nine runs against Toronto on September 11, 2020.
Tyrone Taylor started the scoring with an RBI double, and Mark Vientos, who had been struggling with a 0-for-15 and 3-for-39 slump, hit a two-run single. Acuña and Starling Marte also contributed with run-scoring hits.
Nimmo then hit his second home run since August 20, a 419-foot shot into the Nationals’ bullpen in right-center field. He had three near-homers that went foul in the Mets’ previous four home games.
“It was funny, Steve Cohen actually told me, ‘Hey, that one you finally kept fair,’” Nimmo said with a laugh, referring to the Mets’ owner. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, that one had no danger of being around the foul pole.’”
Acuña hit another home run in the eighth inning, his second in two nights. The 22-year-old infielder, who is the younger brother of reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., is 7 for 15 in his first five major league games.
CJ Abrams had two of the Nationals’ three hits, while Herz allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings.
