Dillon Gee, Bullpen Strong in Mets Win

The Mets needed a solid start from Dillon Gee against the Nationals on Sunday; after all, Matt Harvey and Jonathon Niese cannot start every game. They got that solid start, until the sixth inning that is. But the bullpen bailed him out and the Mets went on to win 2-0.

The Mets took the early 1-0 lead in the second when John Buck hit a monster home run into the second deck in left field, where balls are rarely hit. It was estimated at 460 feet. That’s a lot of feet. Buck now has seven home runs and a league leading 22 RBIs.

A David Wright walk, Ike Davis single and Lucas Duda walk loaded the bases in the forth with one out. Wright scored on a Mike Baxter sacrifice fly to make it 2-0, but the Mets could not take advantage and score any more runs that inning.

Dillon Gee was cruising along until the sixth, when he lost the plate and walked three batters. Terry Collins removed him with two outs and runners on first and second and brought in LaTroy Hawkins, who has been disappointing this far this season. But Hawkins did not disappoint in this instance, striking out Ian Desmond to end the threat.

So Gee went 5.2 innings, allowing no runs on just three hits. He struck out six and walked those three batters in his last inning.

Brandon Lyon pitched a perfect seventh, but Scott Rice had problems in the eighth. Steve Lombardozzi led off with a single and Denard Span walked. He went to 3-0 on Jayson Werth, but Werth was swinging for some reason and he grounded into a double play. Rice then struck out Bryce Harper and the inning was over. Thank you, Jayson Werth!

And then it was up to Bobby Parnell. He set the Nationals down in order as the Mets win, 2-0, their first shutout win of the season.