Gerardo Parra went 3-for-3, including a homer, drove in three runs and scored three as the host Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 7-6 Thursday, winning a series for the first time in a month.
Washington’s Kurt Suzuki added three hits and two RBIs.
Parra, signed on May 9 after he began the season with the Giants, hit a two-run homer off Mets starter Zack Wheeler (3-3) in the fifth to give Washington a 6-4 lead. It was his second homer in five games with the Nationals.
Suzuki’s run-scoring single in the seventh made it 7-4.
Nationals closer Sean Doolittle allowed RBI singles to Wilson Ramos and Juan Lagares in the ninth as New York got within 7-6. He struck out Keon Broxton with the bases loaded to end the game, sealing his seventh save.
Washington starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez left the game with one out in the top of the second inning due to left hamstring soreness.
Mets left fielder Jeff McNeil departed in the third as a precaution because of abdominal tightness, and New York right fielder Michael Conforto left the contest in the fifth when he ran into second baseman Cano while chasing a bloop double.
The Nationals scored four in the first off Wheeler, who had yielded just eight runs in his previous four starts combined.
Anthony Rendon had an RBI single, Victor Robles scored on a double-play grounder, and Parra and Suzuki hit run-scoring doubles to make it 4-0.
The Mets scored four in the third off reliever Erick Fedde. Cano had an RBI double, and Conforto smashed a three-run homer to tie the game at 4.
Fedde gave up the four runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings before lefty Dan Jennings (1-2) took over in the top of the fifth and retired all three batters he faced.
Wheeler overcame the rough first inning and lasted six frames, giving up six runs on a season-high 11 hits. The Nationals had been blanked in three times in their previous eight games.
It was the first series win for the Nationals since April 16-18, when they took two of three against the visiting San Francisco Giants.
The Mets had won three in a row overall before falling Wednesday and Thursday at Washington.
–Field Level Media
