Carson Benge laced a tie-breaking, run-scoring single in the sixth inning Friday night for the host New York Mets, who beat the Washington Nationals 4-1 in the opener of a three-game series.
Francisco Lindor hit a game-tying homer earlier in the sixth for the Mets, who snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 14-12 since the All-Star Break. Jared Young homered and Bo Bichette hit an RBI single in the seventh.
Seven players finished with one hit apiece for New York.
Brady House went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Nationals, who have lost 11 of their last 16.
Jonathan Pintaro (1-0), the third of five Mets pitchers, was credited with the victory after giving up one hit over two scoreless innings. Daniel Duarte threw a scoreless eighth and Kodai Senga notched his second save after allowing a hit and striking out one in the ninth.
Mets starter Robert Stock allowed an unearned run on three hits and three walks while striking out five over 4 1/3 innings.
Andrew Alvarez (2-4) took the loss after giving up two runs on two hits and one walk while striking out four over 5 2/3 innings.
An error by Lindor in the third helped the Nationals build their only run.
With one out, CJ Abrams walked. Abimelec Ortiz followed with a potential double-play grounder behind the second-base bag, but the ball clipped off Lindor’s glove as Abrams raced to third. House singled home Abrams on the next pitch.
The Mets had just two baserunners against Alvarez before rallying with two outs in the sixth. After Lindor homered, Bichette struck out but reached first when strike three skipped past catcher Keibert Ruiz for a wild pitch. Bichette went to third as Luis Robert Jr. greeted reliever Jake Bird with a single. Benge followed with his tie-breaking single.
Young began adding insurance with a one-out homer to right in the seventh. Luis Torrens and Lindor drew walks before Bichette’s two-out RBI single.
