NEW YORK (AP) — Starling Marte and Nick Plummer each homered and finished with four RBIs as the New York Mets rode an early offensive outburst to a 13-5 rout of the Washington Nationals on Monday night.
The top three batters in the Mets’ order — Luis Guillorme, Marte and Francisco Lindor — combined to reach base in their first nine plate appearances, all of which occurred in the first three innings against Nationals starter Erick Fedde and reliever Andres Machado.
New York trailed 3-0 after a half-inning but led 12-4 after the fourth.
“It’s fun, because you get to score a couple of runs quick, especially after they got up 3-0,” Lindor said as he snapped his fingers. “You go back, boom, you immediately score two, it’s like, all right, down by one. It’s 1-0.”
Lindor had RBI singles in the first and third. He has at least one RBI in each of the last eight games, the longest streak by a Mets player since Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado both had eight-game RBI streaks in June 2006.
Plummer’s RBI double delivered the first run of a four-run second, when Guillorme had a run-scoring single and Marte hit his two-run homer. Marte added a two-run single in the third. The right fielder is hitting .347 with three homers and 14 RBIs this month after batting .224 with two homers and 15 RBIs in April.
“He’s been a little more selective,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s a strong young man. I don’t think he ever goes up there trying to hit a home run. I just think he reacts. I think he’s really trusting himself and letting the ball travel.”
Plummer, whose first career hit was a tying homer in the ninth inning of Sunday night’s 5-4, 10-inning win over Philadelphia, had fans chanting his name throughout Monday’s game, when he hit an opposite field, three-run shot in the fourth and finished a triple shy of the cycle in his second major league start.
“It’s awesome — Cisco (Lindor) made sure that I turned around,” said Plummer, who spent five-plus seasons in the minors before getting recalled by the Mets on Saturday. “It’s great. This is what you envision, coming over here, being part of this club and ultimately coming out with a win.”
Plummer became the first player in team history to homer in each of his first two starts.
“It’s fun to kind of sit there and watch the joy he gets from being here in the big leagues and contributing,” Showalter said.
Pete Alonso homered leading off the eighth for the Mets, who piled up 16 hits and matched their season high for runs. Alonso has 30 RBIs in May.
Every batter for the Mets reached base at least once except Jeff McNeil, who was 0 for 5 but hit into a run-scoring double play in the first inning to pull New York to 3-2.
Colin Holderman (2-0) threw 1 1/3 innings of one-run ball in relief of David Peterson, who was pulled one out shy of qualifying for the win. Peterson was charged with four runs on six hits and four walks while striking out one and throwing just 44 of his 88 pitches for strikes.
Four straight Nationals reached base in the first against Peterson, with Josh Bell hitting a two-run single before Lane Thomas made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly.
Bell added an RBI single in the fifth and Cesar Hernandez had an RBI single in the sixth.
Fedde (3-4) allowed six runs and eight hits in 1 1/3 innings.
“It just wasn’t there for him today,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “His misses were almost right down the middle to a good-hitting team.”
GOOD NIGHT FOR NEW YORK
The crowd of 22,007 at Citi Field cheered highlights of the first four goals scored by the New York Rangers in their 6-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in the deciding Game 7 of their second-round NHL playoff series.
“You can feel the vibe. You can see when people come out to the games with Rangers jerseys — it’s special,” said Lindor, who was among a group of Mets to attend the Rangers’ Game 7 win over Pittsburgh in the first round.
UMPIRE OUT
First base umpire and crew chief Greg Gibson exited with a Mets athletic trainer following Mark Canha’s leadoff single in the second.
The game was completed with three umpires. Second base ump Will Little shifted to first, with third base umpire Jordan Baker rotating as needed between second and third.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Nationals: Martinez said he hoped RHP Stephen Strasburg (thoracic outlet syndrome surgery) could throw a bullpen in a couple of days before taking his rehab assignment to Triple-A Rochester. Strasburg tossed five hitless innings Sunday in his second start for Class A Fredericksburg. … INF/OF Ehire Adrianza (left quad) had the day off and is expected to join Rochester on Tuesday. Martinez said he wanted Adrianza, who has yet to play this season, to get some time in the outfield before returning to the Nationals. … RHP Joe Ross (elbow) is still waiting for a second opinion on the MRI he underwent last week.
Mets: OF Travis Jankowski said he had two screws inserted into his broken hand after getting injured diving for a ball last Wednesday. He’s expected to miss at least six weeks. … RHP Drew Smith (dislocated right pinkie) is day-to-day. No fractures were detected after he got hurt reaching for a comebacker Sunday night. … OF Brandon Nimmo (right wrist) took swings in the batting cage but sat out his third straight game.
UP NEXT
Nationals: LHP Patrick Corbin (1-7, 6.30 ERA) earned his first win of the season last Thursday, when he gave up three runs in 6 1/3 innings against Colorado.
Mets: RHP Trevor Williams (0-3, 4.37 ERA) makes his fourth start of the season Tuesday night as he auditions to fill the fifth spot in a depleted rotation for a while.
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