J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias hit home runs in a six-run 10th inning as the New York Mets held on to beat the Washington Nationals 9-7 on Monday night. This spoiled the debut of highly anticipated outfield prospect James Wood.
Francisco Alvarez contributed three RBIs and two extra-base hits for the Mets (41-41), who ended a two-game losing streak and improved their record to 17-6 in their last 23 games.
In the first game of a series between NL East rivals, Harrison Bader was hit by a pitch to start the 10th inning, putting two runners on base. Martinez then ended his 0-for-12 slump with a home run to center field against Hunter Harvey (2-4), his 10th homer of the season.
“I was just looking for something up because I didn’t want to chase a splitter in the dirt,” Martinez said.
Tyrone Taylor doubled with two outs and scored on Alvarez’s first career triple, which hit high off the right-field wall. Iglesias extended the lead to 9-3 with a two-run homer to center field off Jordan Weems, marking his first home run in the majors since July 13, 2022, when he played for Colorado.
“After the three-run homer, we continued with really good at-bats, kept putting pressure on, and that made the difference in the game,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Washington fought back with four runs in the bottom of the 10th, but Reed Garrett struck out Luis García Jr. with two runners on base to secure his fourth save of the season.
Tyler Jay allowed an RBI double to Jesse Winker and a two-run double to Ildemaro Vargas in the 10th inning. Garrett then came in and surrendered an RBI single to Keibert Ruiz before striking out García to end the game.
“We were trying to avoid using Reed Garrett because he’s been pitching a lot lately,” Mendoza noted. “But we had to call on him, and I’m glad he came in and closed the door for us to get the win.”
The Mets, who have struggled in extra innings this season with a record of 4-8, managed to improve that mark despite being outscored 33-15 in those situations.
Jake Diekman (2-2) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn the win, with Tyrone Taylor making a crucial catch in right field to help preserve the victory after a two-out error in the sixth inning by CJ Abrams at shortstop.
