The second half of the season for the New York Mets began in a familiarly chaotic fashion Monday night, but they still came away victorious in their 82nd game of the year. The Mets will look to climb over .500 Tuesday night, when they visit the Washington Nationals in the second game of a four-game series.
Sean Manaea (5-3, 3.89 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against fellow left-hander DJ Herz (1-2, 5.48).
J.D. Martinez hit the tiebreaking three-run homer in the 10th inning Monday night for the Mets, who scored six runs before withstanding a furious rally by the Nationals to earn a 9-7 victory.
The extra-inning game was the 12th of the season for the Mets, which ties them with the Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies for the most such games. The six-run 10th inning tied the franchise record for most runs scored in the 10th inning or later, set first in the 11th inning against the Chicago Cubs on June 30, 1979, and matched in the 10th inning against the Houston Astros on Aug. 1, 2001.
The Mets almost squandered the lead in the bottom of the 10th on Monday, when the Nationals sent the winning run to the plate before Reed Garrett struck out Luis Garcia Jr. to earn his fourth save. "A win is a win, right?" Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said with a grin postgame.
The bottom line has been better lately for New York, which has endured a roller-coaster season. The Mets were as many as 11 games under .500 twice but have gone 17-6 since June 3 to climb back to .
500 at 41-41. The.
