WASHINGTON – J.D. Martinez went two straight games without a hit over the weekend — a slump by his standards — but was ready when he got a splitter over the plate in the 10th inning Monday night.
Not content to merely squeak across the automatic runner, Martinez unleashed a bomb that cleared the center-field fence and helped take the Mets’ two-game skid with it.
Martinez’s three-run homer against Hunter Harvey propelled the Mets to a 9-7 victory over the Nationals in 10 innings. The Mets (41-41) have won all four meetings against the Nationals this season.
The Mets had a lead evaporate in the eighth and Jake Diekman barely avoided a Nationals walk-off victory in the ninth.
They took no chances in the 10th, receiving an RBI triple from Francisco Alvarez and two-run homer from Jose Iglesias following Martinez’s blast.
The Nationals scored four runs against lefty Tyler Jay in the bottom of the inning.
Reed Garrett recorded the final out with the tying runs on base.
On Sunday, Matt Festa allowed five runs in the final frame and lost 10-5 to the Astros.
Martinez posted an .874 OPS in June and was among the ringleaders of a recovered lineup that has produced at a high level for the last six weeks.
On this night he came to the plate in the 10th after Harrison Bader was drilled by a pitch and clobbered his 10th homer of the season.
David Peterson allowed only one base runner after the third inning.
He lasted 6 ¹/₃ innings and surrendered two earned runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts in lowering his ERA to 3.51.
Tyrone Taylor misplayed Joey Meneses’ bloop to right in the eighth — generously ruled an RBI double — to tie it 3-3 after Dedniel Nunez walked Jesse Winker.
Nunez had gotten the final two outs in the seventh and retired CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas to begin the eighth before the walk to Winker.
Diekman’s two-base throwing error on James Wood’s squib to start the ninth put the Nationals in position for the win, but the left-hander recorded three straights outs, including a lunging grab by Taylor on Jacob Young’s fly to right.
The Nationals took a 2-0 lead against Peterson in the third. Harold Ramirez and Meneses each delivered an RBI single in the inning after Abrams walked and Thomas singled.
But Peterson avoided major damage by getting Ildemaro Vargas to hit into an inning-ending double play.
An inning earlier Peterson escaped trouble by getting Nick Senzel to hit into a double play following consecutive singles by James Wood and Keibert Ruiz.
The highly touted prospect Wood, who started in left field, was making his major league debut and received a rousing ovation with the hit in his first plate appearance.
The Nationals acquired Wood in the 2022 trade that sent Juan Soto to the Padres.
Mark Vientos’ two-out double in the fourth put runners on second and third for the Mets, but MacKenzie Gore struck out Tyrone Taylor to end the threat.
Gore was removed with two outs in the sixth with Bader on second base.
Derek Law entered and allowed a single to Vientos that gave the Mets their first run.
Taylor followed with a grounder that should have ended the inning, but the ball rolled under shortstop Abrams’ glove for an error and Alvarez’s ensuing two-run double gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Bader’s leadoff single and stolen base ignited the rally.