Zack Wheeler Not Good, Mets Fall to Nationals

Zack Wheeler has been pitching so well lately that he was bound to have an off game. He had it in the rain Saturday night as the Nationals clubbed the error-prone Mets.

Bryce Harper slammed a two-run homer into the second deck in right in the second to give the Nationals a 2-0 lead.

With runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth, Ian Desmond stole third. Travis d’Arnaud’s throw sailed into left field and Desmond walked home to extend the lead to 3-0. To his credit, Wheeler was able to strand the runner at second.

Denard Span walked to lead off the fifth and stole second. Anthony Rendon hit a comebacker and Wheeler threw behind Span. But Span got back to the base so there were runners on first and second. Jayson Werth singled to right to plate Span to make it 4-0. That was all for Wheeler. Gonzalez Germen came on with runners on second and third with no outs. With one out Desmond hit a single to score two more to make it a 6-0 game. Gonzalez walked the next two batters to load the bases, but he was able to strike out the next two batters to end the inning.

Wheeler allowed six runs in four innings, allowing seven hits, with two walks and four strikeouts. His record evened to 10-10.

The Mets, with just one hit through four innings, broke through against Doug Fister in the bottom of the fifth. Wilmer Flores hit a two-run homer to cut the Nationals lead to 6-2.

The Mets gave one of the runs back in the sixth, committing three errors to make it 7-2. They made four errors in the game.

Curtis Granderson made it 7-3 in the sixth with an RBI single.

Mets go on to lose 10-3.