Nationals’ four-run third holds off Mets in 7-6 win at Nationals Park

Washington’s first answer

New York struck first when Mark Vientos doubled to left, bringing home Juan Soto and sending Bo Bichette to third for a 1-0 lead. Washington’s answer was immediate and more forceful: CJ Abrams singled to right, and both James Wood and Dylan Crews scored to flip the game 2-1 before the first inning was over.

That exchange set the tone. The Mets created early pressure, but the Nationals made better use of their first opening. In a one-run game that never fully settled, Washington’s ability to turn one first-inning hit into two runs became an early hint that sequencing, not just volume, would decide it.

The inning that changed everything

The hinge came in the third. New York put up two runs in the top half to move back in front 3-2. Washington then answered with four in the bottom half, transforming a one-run deficit into a 6-3 lead in the space of a single inning.

That surge carried the rest of the night. The Mets trimmed the margin with two runs in the fifth, the Nationals restored a bit of cushion with one in the seventh, and New York’s lone run in the eighth set the final score. From there, Washington’s task was simple: protect the one-run edge for the last turn.

Close all night, separated by one surge

The team totals underline how close the game stayed. Washington finished with 11 hits to New York’s nine, and neither club disappeared offensively for long. The Mets scored in four separate innings; the Nationals scored in three. What separated them was that Washington packed its damage into one decisive frame, while New York spent the night piecing together smaller comebacks.

Among the confirmed individual lines, Abrams supplied the biggest verified swing with his two-run single in the first. Wood scored once and added a hit, while Crews also came around in that opening response. For the Mets, Soto scored and recorded a hit, and Vientos paired a hit with the RBI double that gave New York its first lead.

Our take: enough offense, not enough margin

Our take: the Mets will look at the third inning first, but the broader issue is early run prevention. Washington had already scored twice in the first, then struck for four more in the third and finished with 11 hits. Add New York’s lone error, and the Mets gave themselves too much ground to recover even though the offense kept producing.

Our take: the Nationals earned the result, but the finish also offers a reminder. A club that led 6-3 still had to absorb New York runs in the fifth and eighth, and the final margin stayed at one. Cleaner shutdown innings after building the middle-game lead would have made a strong offensive night feel a good deal safer.

That is why this matchup feels fairly straightforward even without every scoring detail from the middle innings. Washington found the game’s biggest burst and kept it just out of reach. The Mets were lively enough to make 7-6 look close because it was close; the Nationals were better because they owned the turning point.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Vientos doubled to left, Soto scored, Bichette to third.

2. 1st Inning

   Abrams singled to right, Wood scored and Crews scored.