Mets Take Advantage of Nationals Mistakes

It was shaping up to be a disaster. The Mets were being no-hit by Max Scherzer, with no answer in sight. In the end, the Mets bats really never did figure out Scherzer. But the Nationals made mistakes and the Mets took advantage of them. And it resulted in an Opening Day win.

Scherzer was nursing a 1-0 lead and a no-hitter with two outs in the sixth when he walked Curtis Granderson. David Wright hit an easy pop fly to second on which Ian Desmond called off Dan Uggla for some reason. The ball hit off his glove for an error. With runners on second and third Lucas Duda came through with a two-run single to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.

It was Desmond again in the seventh with a throwing error that allowed a base runner. Travis d’Arnaud then tripled off the wall to give the Mets a 3-1 lead.

In addition to the timely hitting, the Mets got spectacular pitching. Bartolo Colon pitched six innings of one-run ball. Then the bullpen shut down the Nats. It was scary even before the ninth inning started — closer Jenrry Mejia experienced elbow pain while warming up and could not enter the game. Terry Collins scrambled and went with lefty Jerry Blevins to get Bryce Harper. Then Buddy Carlyle came on to nail down the first save of his career.

But it was taking advantage of mistakes that won the game for the Mets. This is what good teams do, and Monday the Mets looked like a good team. It would be nice if they hit more, but fortunately they will not be facing pitchers the quality of Max Scherzer every game.