MLB results: Mets 10, Nationals 0 – Comeback win fizzles out in another bullpen implosion

With no help on the road scoreboard in the Wild Card race, the Mets took care of their business on Wednesday night, defeating the Washington Nationals with a nine-run fourth-inning victory to maintain their position in the Wild Card race.

Jose Quintana threw around a couple of baserunners in the first inning, but otherwise continued his good form of late. DJ Herz was able to make up for Quintana's zeroes in the first three innings – he struck out the team in the third inning – before the fateful fourth inning began.

Brandon Nimmo opened the inning with a walk, and Pete Alonso followed with a single. On the next play, Nimmo nearly put the Mets out of the big inning when Taylor hit a liner to right-center field that bounced off Jacob Young in center field. Nimmo couldn't read the ball properly, retreated to tag, then sprinted to third base with Alonso on top of him. The throw home was better than Nimmo, but it slipped just under the tag, breaking the scoreless tie.

Five of the next six batters reached, with Mark Vientos, Luisangel Acuna and Starling Marte delivering RBI singles. Nimmo regained the lead, now 6-0. Nimmo hit reliever Jacob Barnes' second pitch deep into right-center field, allowing Gary Cohen to call the hammer down and end any further drama for the night.

Quintana managed seven scoreless innings and allowed just two hits before joining his rotation mates for their OMG celebration after the seventh inning. Quintana recorded his 10th win of the season and now has a 23.2-inning scoreless streak that has lowered his ERA to 3.74 this year. Acuna continued to do his best to imitate Wally Pipp, hitting the second home run of his career and in as many nights in the bottom of the eighth inning to get the Mets into double figures for the second straight night. Phil Maton and Huascar Brazoban closed out the game and secured the shutout.

With the win, the Mets defended their current spot as the second wild card in the National League (as they held the tiebreaker against Arizona) and moved two games ahead of the Braves. The team enters contention in the final 10 games of the regular season, hosting the Phillies for the final four home games of the (regular) season before traveling to Atlanta and Milwaukee to pursue their playoff dreams.

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Probability of winning added

What is WPA?

Large Mets winner: Jose Quintana +21.4% WPA
Big Mets loser: ,Jose Iglesias, -2.3% WPA
Mets pitcher: +21.4% WPA
Mets bats: +28.6% WPA
This is the best game: Tyrone Taylor RBI double in the fourth inning, +15.3% WPA
The sux0rest game: CJ Abrams leadoff single in the first inning, -3.6% WPA