WASHINGTON — Crossing five time zones and the Atlantic Ocean, the Mets were nervous about their overnight flight to London Wednesday through Thursday. Manager Carlos Mendoza knew his team would arrive across the ocean during the day and wanted them to get some sleep on the road.
The Mets played as if they could easily fall asleep, as if there was nothing to toss and turn at night.
The all-Lewis battery (Severino and Torrens) was excellent, as was the Mets’ overall defense and offense, leading to a landslide 9-1 victory at Nationals Park.
The Mets have now beaten an opponent in three straight games for the first time since April 15-17 against the Pirates.
All it takes is a short burst of success to make a team relevant in the National League. The Mets (27-35), who have won five of seven games, are 3 1/2 games behind the wild card spot ahead of Wednesday’s late game and a showdown with the Phillies in Europe.
In some ways, the Mets played the way they had wanted to all season in the series finale.
A 1-hour, 25-minute rain delay threatened to derail the pitching staff, but Severino showed both length (a season-high-tying eight innings) and excellence (allowing just one run, seven hits and no walks) and once again looked like a bargain free-agent signing.
The former Yankee struggled at times to stay in games for long periods, but otherwise has resurrected his career, lowering his ERA to 3.25.
Behind him, the Mets were playing as well as they have this season, with Pete Alonso, who had been quiet at the plate but was instead making noise with one highlight after another with his glove.
He gloved a hard grounder down the line by Keivert Lewis to prevent a double and got the out at first, dived to his right to block a hit by Joey Gallo, and threw his glove up to catch a liner by Eddie Rosario, resulting in a double play.
Severino’s catcher, Torrence, also contributed defensively, stopping Jesse Winker from stealing second base for the Mets’ 10th of 79 stolen base attempts this year.
But Torrens also contributed offensively in ways the Mets could not have envisioned a few months ago.
Torrens, who is looking to take the backup role from Tomas Nido upon Francisco Alvarez’s return, hit two major league home runs, his first since Oct. 5, 2022, in what was another big day for the Mets’ batting lineup.
Torrens, a seven-year veteran who was with the Yankees before being traded Friday, hit his first home run in the third inning of a scoreless game against the Mets.
His first home run was especially memorable because it flew the other way, and his second, in the sixth inning, was especially memorable because it traveled 404 feet to center field.
Francisco Lindor followed up Torrens’ second solo homer with a home run of his own as the Mets ran away with the Nationals. The Mets scored one run each on singles by Mark Vientos and Jose Iglesias and two runs on a double by Harrison Bader in the sixth inning to put them up six.
The Mets finished with 11 hits, having recorded double figures in five of their past seven games. All nine Mets starters had at least one hit, which is fitting for a lineup that’s suddenly doing well for everyone involved.
They didn’t need much from Severino, yet they received plenty.
Severino retired the first eight batters he faced and did not allow a hit to the outfield until he was out in the fifth inning. Nationals batters did not reach scoring position until the eighth inning when Washington had the bases loaded, but they only managed to score one run on a sacrifice fly.
Severino struck out four batters and pitched just 92 pitches over eight innings, providing an economical and efficient performance that allowed the Mets to use only Danny Young out of the bullpen.
Severino and a strong offensive line were able to give rest to a tired relief corps that was coming off a lengthy stretch that saw 13 games in 13 days and 26 games in 27 days.
The rest of the group can rest in peace as we head to the Met for an overnight trip, roughly six hours away.
