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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - For the second straight afternoon, a Nationals pitcher with a sparkling ERA had first-inning trouble.
On Friday, it was right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, who saw his spring scoreless innings streak end at 11. Today, the Mets roughed up righty Jason Marquis, who brought an 0.75 ERA into the game, for four runs. Marquis' ERA jumped to 3.41.
And it could have been worse. .
Jose Reyes led off with an infield single and advanced to second when shortstop Ian Desmond threw high to first. Daniel Murphy then followed with a run-scoring single to center for a 1-0 New York lead.
Marquis then loaded the bases on a fielder's choice, a walk and a single before walking Lucas Duda to force in a run. Nick Evans then doubled to center, scoring another two runs, with a nice relay by Desmond to catcher Ivan Rodriguez getting turned into an 8-6-2-5 out at third base. Evans tried to score on Josh Thole's bloop single to right, but Rick Ankiel's strong throw cut him down at the plate.
The Nats have had two baserunners. Danny Espinosa reached on an error in the first before being erased on Desmond's fielder's choice grounder. Desmond was then caught stealing. The next six Washington hitters have been retired in order. Heading to the bottom of the third, it's Mets 4, Nationals 0.
Update: Marquis departed after 3 2/3 innings and gets an ugly line after Tyler Clippard yielded a walk to load the bases and a three-run triple by Scott Hairston.
Marquis allowed six runs, all earned, on nine hits, walked three, struck out one and threw a wild pitch. Mets 7, Nationals 0 heading to the fifth.
