The Washington Nationals returned from their West Coast road trip and opened their weekend series against the Mets with a 6-4 victory at Nats Park. The Nationals' offense did their damage on two quick blows, with the big bats in the heart of the order coming through for Davey Johnson.
Washington led off the bottom of the fourth inning with three straight singles, as Jayson Werth, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman set the table for slugger Michael Morse. With the count at 1-1, Morse took a Johan Santana offering the other way to right, depositing it into the bleachers for the Nationals first grand slam of the season. The crowd erupted at the park, and Morse came back out to the top of the dugout for a curtain call.
One inning later, it was another Nationals slugger who added two more with another ripped shot to right. Bryce Harper hit an absolute laser over the right-field wall that screamed into the seats. The two-run blast would prove to be the difference for the Nationals, as the Mets added two more runs late in the game to cut the lead to 6-4.
Tyler Clippard came on in the ninth and battled some wildness to convert his 26th save of the year. Clippard was firing high heat, but unfortunately a lot of it was well out of the zone. Clippard battled to strike out two. and with the tying runs on base, he induced a Ruben Tejada flyout to Morse to end the game. It sealed the 11th win in 13 games for Washington.
Edwin Jackson will take the mound on Saturday and try to keep the hot streak alive.
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