The Washington Nationals haven’t had the easiest time so far during the 2018 MLB regular season. They can always count on a visit from the New York Mets to help get them back on track, though.
Initially projected to easily be the National League East’s postseason representative, they’ll enter Wednesday with a 53-53 record while also looking up at the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves in the division. It got so bad that rumors surfaced they were willing to listen on offers for impending free agent, Bryce Harper, before general manager Mike Rizzo squashed it himself.
The Nationals didn’t make any huge splashes prior to Tuesday’s 4pm ET non-waiver trade deadline, and even shipped reliever Brandon Kintzler to the Chicago Cubs. However, if they end up kicking things into gear and qualify for October, Tuesday night’s game against New York may very well be viewed as the turning point.
After all, how else would you view a 25-4 beatdown of a divisional foe? I’m not sure, guys. As one can imagine, this incredible blowout led to some mind-blowing statistics. There are plenty out there, but the following six really put things in perspective.
The Nationals are the first team to have each starter record a hit within the first two innings of a game since the Yankees on July 30, 2011.
h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/fgWwSnp3yM
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 1, 2018
The Nationals' 7 runs were the most in the 1st inning of a game by an NL team this season.
Steven Matz allowed 7 ER that inning, tying Dylan Bundy and Felix Peña for the most allowed in the opening frame by any pitcher this season.
Those 7 ER also tied a career-high for Matz. pic.twitter.com/T5GEBw1SCe
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 31, 2018
Washington has added 3 more runs in the 5th, becoming the first NL team in the live-ball era to score 3+ runs in each of the first 5 innings of a game. #OnePursuit https://t.co/tX7TA9wreL
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 1, 2018
The @Nationals finished with 25 runs, the most by a team without the DH since August 18, 1995, when the Cubs scored 26 at Colorado.
Washington also became the first non-DH team to have all 9 starters score multiple runs since the Yankees on May 24, 1936 at the A's.#OnePursuit
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 1, 2018
The Nationals led 19-0 through five innings. They're the 2nd team in MLB history to hold a team scoreless through five innings while scoring 19+ runs.
The Hartford Dark Blues led the New York Mutuals 21-0 through five on May 13, 1876.
h/t @EliasSports pic.twitter.com/VrToCNxjdj
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 1, 2018
Those last two tweets, though… my goodness.
What truly makes this all even better is that just hours after New York decided to hold onto Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and Zack Wheeler in order to build around their pitching staff and aim to compete in 2019, a game like this takes place. Baseball is a funny game, isn’t it?
This is actually the second time the Nats have hung 20-plus runs on the Mets in two years. On April 30th last season, Washington won 23-5 off the strength of a 10-RBI day from Anthony Rendon. The third baseman added three hits and four RBI to Tuesday’s effort, but it was former Met Daniel Murphy who did a lot of the damage. He continued his pattern of tormenting his old club by collecting three hits (two home runs) and six RBI in the win.
Just when you think it can’t get much worse for the Mets, something like this happens. We’ll see if this actually ends up being rock bottom, or if they find a way to get a little lower.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book about how to become a sports blogger. You can sign up for his email newsletter here.
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