Mets beat Nationals 7-1 behind 2 homers from Mauricio and 3-run drive by Ewing

WASHINGTON (AP) — A.J. Ewing hit a go-ahead, three-run homer, Ronny Mauricio went deep from both sides of the plate for his first career multi-homer game and the New York Mets defeated the Washington Nationals 7-1 on Saturday.

New York left fielder Juan Soto left the game in the ninth inning after he was hit on the right hand by a 91.7 mph sinker from Richard Lovelady. Mets manager Andy Green said X-rays were negative.

Mets rookie Carson Benge had three hits for his 44th multihit game and 13th with three hits or more. Benge also made a sprawling, backhand catch in right field with two on in the third on Abimelec Ortiz’s sacrifice fly, a grab reminiscent of Ron Swoboda’s against Baltimore’s Brooks Robinson in Game 4 of the 1969 World Series.

Ortiz’s fly gave Washington a lead that stood until Ewing homered in the seventh on an 0-2 curveball from Jake Irvin (2-10), ending an 0-of-10 slide and putting the Mets ahead 3-1.

Mauricio connected on a fastball three pitches later for his first home run since May 1. Mets Nos. 8 and 9 hitters hit consecutive home runs for the third time this year. Mauricio added a two-run homer in the ninth.

Washington has allowed 22 home runs in the seventh inning or later that tied games or put opponents ahead, the most in the major leagues.

Dedniel Nuñez (2-1) struck out the side in the sixth.

New York clinched its sixth straight season series against Washington at 7-5.

Starter Connelly Early made his Nationals debut, retiring nine of 10 batters while allowing one hit in three innings. The left-hander was acquired July 26 from Boston for Curtis Mead and activated from the injured list Saturday after recovering from left elbow inflammation.

Mets starter Jonah Tong struck out a career high nine, allowing three hits in five innings. The rookie finished 2-2 with a 3.82 ERA in four starts and three relief appearances.

Up next

New York LHP Sean Manaea (6-7, 4.67 ERA) faces Washington LHP DJ Herz (0-1, 9.00) in Sunday’s season finale, which was moved up two hours to 1:05 p.m. because of rain forecast later in the day.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here