If the New York Mets are going to climb back into the playoff race, they will have to do so without closer David Robertson — the first but possibly not the last core player to be traded from one of baseball’s most disappointing teams.
After dealing Robertson late Thursday night, the Mets will look to earn another win against the visiting Washington Nationals on Friday night in the second game of a four-game series.
Right-hander Max Scherzer (8-4, 4.20 ERA), one day after his 39th birthday, is slated to start for the Mets against Nationals left-hander MacKenzie Gore (6-7, 4.37).
The Mets earned a 2-1 win on an eventful Thursday, when Mark Canha hit the tiebreaking sacrifice fly during an eighth-inning rally interrupted by a rain delay that lasted 97 minutes.
Robertson warmed up before the delay, but the trade — sending the 38-year-old to the Miami Marlins for rookie-ball prospects Ronald Hernandez and Marco Vargas — was completed during the stoppage. Brooks Raley issued a walk in the ninth before earning his second save.
After winning 101 games last season, the Mets are 48-54 and in 11th place in the NL, seven games out of the third NL wild-card spot.
“I’m not sure if they’re moving on from this version of the team — they’re moving on from a player like (Robertson) and maybe some other players, but I don’t think they have moved on from playoff hopes,” Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “We definitely haven’t moved on from it. I know our coaches haven’t. And I’m pretty sure our front office hasn’t, either.
“It’s right there. We’ve just got to play better. We are the New York Mets. We have to play better and try to get into the playoffs. We have 60 games left. There’s a real opportunity still out there.”
The Nationals, meanwhile, continued their reversal in trends following the All-Star break. They are 2-5 on the road and 5-1 at home in the second half. Overall this season, Washington is 23-27 on the road and 20-33 at Nationals Park.
The Nationals struggled at the plate on Thursday, scoring their only run when Keibert Ruiz lofted a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. Alex Call was caught stealing to end the fifth, and Corey Dickerson flied out to left to leave the bases loaded in the sixth.
“We’ve struggled at home as we all know — played well this homestand, let’s keep it going,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Thursday afternoon. “Say what you want about the New York Mets, but they’ve got a good ballclub. Good pitching. So we’ve got to come ready to play … and do the little things that we’re capable of doing.”
Scherzer, who played for the Nationals from 2015 through July 2021 and won the World Series with the team in 2019, took the loss in his latest start. He gave up five runs in six innings as the Mets fell 8-6 to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday. He is 4-0 with a 3.72 ERA in seven career games (six starts) against Washington.
Gore earned his second straight win on Sunday, when he tossed five scoreless innings in the Nationals’ 6-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. He is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA in two career starts against the Mets, both earlier this year.