Mets 8 – Nationals 6 May 11, 2010

Jon Niese didn’t have his finest start tonight. It started poorly giving up a 3-run homer in the first inning and got bad again in the fifth inning. Niese only lasted 4.1 IP and gave up 6 ER’s. He was lucky to avoid the loss. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

Hisanori Takahashi did it again with 2 scoreless innings of relief. How good has he been? His ERA in down to 2.78, crazy good for a long reliever.

There wasn’t much offense to talk about before the eighth inning. Jeff Francoeur knocked in a couple runs in the second and the sixth but that was it. The Mets exploded in the eighth though for 6 runs. It could have been more because Ike Davis barely missed a grand slam that was just foul of the right field pole. Chris Carter got his first hit with a pinch-hit RBI double. It was a great inning offensively.

David Wright and Jason Bay both had 3 hits in the game. Hopefully, that’s a good sign.

Francisco Rodriguez finished it off with a clean ninth inning for a change. He was helped by another ridiculous catch to end the game by Davis. He went over the rail of the dugout again to catch another foul pop. It’s uncanny that he’s done that three times now. He’s like a cat maintaining his balance and catching the ball while flipping over the railing.

Great comeback win tonight. The rubber game of the series is tomorrow afternoon.

Box score