WASHINGTON — Jose Quintana seemed wide awake, but the rest of his Mets teammates may have been sleeping through the Fourth of July.
The Mets lost to the Nationals 1-0 in a game that started at 11:05 a.m. at Nationals Park due to the holiday and lasted just 1 hour, 58 minutes, but managed just one hit on Thursday.
As a result, the Mets tied the four-game series.
They begin a new four-game series at Pittsburgh on Friday.
Jesse Winker broke a scoreless tie in the eighth inning with a pinch-hit home run off Adrian Houser. The right-hander had allowed just one run with a 0.40 ERA in nine relief appearances.
The Mets got great pitching from Quintana, who gave up four hits, one hit by pitch and three walks while not allowing a run over seven innings.
It marked the third time in four starts that the left-hander has pitched six or more innings and allowed one or fewer earned runs. During that span, Quintana’s ERA dropped from 5.29 to 4.22.
Jeff McNeil’s single in the third inning was the Mets’ only hit.
The team’s only other runner during that period was DJ Stewart, who walked in the second inning.
Jake Irvin threw his hands up in excitement as he left the mound in the eighth inning.
The right-hander allowed just two runners (one hit, one walk) in eight innings and struck out eight batters on 99 pitches.
The Nationals didn’t perform particularly well against Quintana, but they were at least able to get runners in scoring position on multiple occasions.
In the first inning, Lane Thomas walked and stole second base. In the third inning, Thomas singled and stole second base, and in the fifth inning, Riley Adams singled and Jacob Young walked to give the Nationals a scare.
Quintana hit Riley Adams in the top of the seventh, but then struck out the next three batters to finish the day.
