WASHINGTON — Taijuan Walker contributed by far his best start of the year — seven innings, no runs, three hits — to help the Mets nab a 4-1 win against the Nationals on Thursday afternoon.
That pushed the Mets’ series record to 9-0-1. They are the only team in the majors that has not lost a series.
For Walker, who was on the injured list last month for a shoulder issue and struggled in his previous outing against the Phillies, this marked a huge rebound. He struck out one and walked one, pitched to contact and got a lot of quick outs, needing only 85 pitches. Had he been fully built up, he might have pitched longer. But this was his first time pitching past the fifth inning this season.
The closest Walker came to danger was a bizarre play in the fourth inning, when the Nationals ran into two outs — both at third base.
Juan Soto was on second base when Josh Bell sent a grounder to third baseman Luis Guillorme. For some reason, Soto tried to go to third but got caught in a rundown and wound up getting tagged out by Walker. As Soto tried to slide into third, he came up short, sliding into Walker instead. Walker applied the tag by lowering his left (non-throwing) shoulder into Soto, who yelled at him. Walker yelled back.
And the play was only half over. Bell was advancing to second, and Walker flung the ball into rightfield. As Bell tried to get to third, rightfielder Starling Marte threw it back to third base, where shortstop Francisco Lindor caught it and tagged Bell (while Soto remained on the ground near the bag).
A Mets athletic trainer briefly checked on Walker afterward, but he remained in the game.
Nats righthander Joan Adon battled profound wildness in his short and ugly start, walking five of his first 10 batters. The Mets scored three runs in his 3 2/3 innings.
When Adon walked the bases loaded in the first inning, Mark Canha came through with a two-run, two-out single. The Mets tacked on another run in the fourth via Tomas Nido’s two-out RBI single.
Canha finished 3-for-4 with a solo home run in the ninth.
The Nationals spoiled the Mets' bid for a combined shutout when Soto homered off Edwin Diaz with two outs in the ninth.
