Josh Bell's homer, rookie Cole Henry's clutch relief help Nationals beat Mets 5-4
Bell's 16th homer was a 420-foot line drive to the right-field stands in the fifth against the struggling Kodai Senga (7-5), who allowed five funs (four earned) in five-plus innings.
Rookie Brad Lord (4-6) pitched five sharp innings for the Nationals before losing his command in the sixth. He walked the first two batters, then gave up back-to-back one-out doubles to Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil that got the Mets within 5-4. Henry came in and worked around a throwing error by third baseman Paul DeJong, retiring Cedric Mullins on a popup and Luis Torrens on a grounder to strand the bases loaded.
Shinnosuke Ogasawara pitched a perfect seventh, Clayton Beeter did the same in the eighth and Jose A. Ferrer worked the ninth for his third save.
The Nationals loaded the bases in the third on two walks and a catcher's interference. Their first hit of the night was an RBI infield single by CJ Abrams, and Bell followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Key stat
Senga has allowed 18 earned runs over 27 innings in his past six starts for a 6.00 ERA.
Up next
In a matchup of lefties, Sean Manaea (1-1, 4.78 ERA) starts for the Mets against the Nationals' MacKenzie Gore (5-12, 4.04) as the series concludes on Thursday.
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