Major League Baseball
NY Mets 5, Washington 3
When: 1:05 PM ET, Saturday, April 29, 2017
Where: Nationals Park, Washington, District of Columbia
Temperature: 84°
Umpires: Home - John Tumpane, 1B - Ted Barrett, 2B - Angel Hernandez, 3B - Lance Barksdale
Attendance: 36501

WASHINGTON -- Michael Conforto said there was no panic when the New York Mets arrived in the nation's capital with a six-game losing streak late Thursday night.

And the outfielder certainly seems relaxed, as he homered twice and drove in three runs as the Mets beat the first-place Washington Nationals, 5-3, on Saturday, winning for the second straight day.

"It is huge; we had a feeling this was coming," said Conforto, standing by his locker after the game. "We are excited to keep this going."

It was the first career two-homer game for Conforto (3-for-4), whose solo shot in the eighth off lefty reliever Enny Romero gave the Mets a 4-2 lead. Both of his home runs came on 3-and-1 counts.

"It is early in the season and we had a rough patch," Conforto said. "Like I said there is no panic in here. We have all of the confidence in the world we can match up with those guys over there. I guess we were not backing down from anyone."

It was the second day in a row a young Mets hitter hit two home runs. Catcher Travis d'Arnaud went deep twice Friday against Max Scherzer.

"Today Michael had a huge day for us," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "When he gets his chance he needs to do something with it and he absolutely has. He has worked on his swing. He has done a tremendous job."

Washington's Ryan Zimmerman, who had three hits and three RBIs, hit a solo homer in the eighth off Addison Reed to trim the lead to 4-3. Zimmerman has 226 career homers, second most in Montreal/Washington franchise history.

He is hitting .410 with 11 homers, but the Mets' longballs continue to plague the Nationals' pitching staff.

"Michael Conforto continues to haunt us," Washington manager Dusty Baker said. "They live and die by the homer, and we couldn't keep them in the ballpark. Stras was good. He was very good. We had action on getting a whole bunch more runs."

But New York's Jose Reyes, who had two hits, smashed a solo homer in the ninth off Shawn Kelley to make it 5-3.

Washington starter Stephen Strasburg (2-1) gave up six hits and three runs with two strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.

Zimmerman had a rare infield single to drive in a run in the fifth and trim the margin to 3-2.

That led to the exit of Mets starter Zack Wheeler, who was replaced by Josh Edgin. Jeurys Familia pitched the ninth for his first save of the season.

"We are very excited to get him on track," Collins said of his closer.

Conforto, who has four home runs against Washington in the last nine days, gave his team a 3-1 lead with a two-run homer off Strasburg in the fifth.

"Just worrying about what I can control and let the other stuff take care of itself," Conforto said.

The Mets tied the game, 1-1, when the fifth as Reyes scored while d'Arnaud hit into a fielder's choice.

Red-hot Zimmerman had an RBI single to give the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the first. His hit drove in Michael A. Taylor, who doubled with one out and ended up with three hits.

"I really didn't have any expectations because he couldn't be as bad as he was last year," Baker said of Zimmerman. "Like I said, he was injured last year, he worked hard this winter.

"He had a full spring training, where last year he didn't. I had to really monitor his playing time, his at-bats. I don't have any expectations. I just want him to keep on rolling."

Taylor got the start after regular center fielder Adam Eaton went on the disabled list earlier in the day and is done for the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, according to multiple reports Saturday night.

Baker and the team were unaware of the severity of the injury following the game as they were awaiting the medical results. Eaton sustained the injury in the ninth inning of Friday's game on a play at first base.

"We're waiting for the MRI,” Baker said of Eaton. "It's not that easy. Not that many people work on Saturdays. We're hopeful that it's not as serious as it looked."

Wheeler gave up five hits and two runs (one earned) in 4 2/3 innings.

The winning pitcher was Hansel Robles (4-0), who recorded five outs without allowing a hit or run. T.J. Rivera also had two hits for the Mets.

The Nationals had a chance to add a run in the fourth. Jayson Werth stole second but was thrown out at third as he tried to advance. Werth and Baker claimed interference on Werth as he tried to leave second, but to no avail.

"And then you hear some jive explanation, it really didn't make sense to me," Baker said of hearing from the umpires on that play.

NOTES: The Nationals put CF Adam Eaton on the 10-day disabled list because of a left knee strain and called up OF Rafael Bautista from Triple-A Syracuse. Bautista entered this season as the No. 11 prospect in the Washington system, according to Baseball America. He was hitting .291 with Syracuse. ... Washington RHP Joe Ross (1-0, 6.17) will face Mets RHP Noah Syndergaard (1-1, 1.73) ... Nationals 2B Daniel Murphy hit .288 with 62 home runs with the Mets before joining Washington before the 2016 season.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
NY Mets   Washington
Zack Wheeler Player Stephen Strasburg
No Decision W/L Loss
4.2 IP 7.0
4 Strikeouts 2
5 Hits 6
1.93 ERA 3.86
Hitting
NY Mets   Washington
Michael Conforto Player Ryan Zimmerman
3 Hits 3
3 RBI 3
2 HR 1
9 TB 6
.750 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
NY Mets 8 3 18 .242 7 3 5 0 1 1
Washington 7 1 12 .212 19 10 3 5 2 0