Nationals’ win streak hits seven

The Associated Press

NEW YORK–As usual, Daniel Murphy was diplomatic about all the damage he’s done to the N.Y. Mets since they let him leave as a free agent.
Max Scherzer knows that’s just a mirage.
“He wants to beat their brains in,” Scherzer noted.
“He won’t say anything, and he won’t say anything to us–it’s not like he’s in here boasting that he wants to beat the Mets,” he reasoned.
“But he wants to beat them apart. That’s the way this is. That’s just the way this goes.”
Murphy hit an early grand slam against his former team, and Scherzer pitched eight fiery innings, as the Washington Nationals topped New York 6-3 last night for their seventh-straight victory .
Ryan Zimmerman added a two-run homer for the Nationals, who completed a three-game sweep of the short-handed Mets in the first series this season between the NL East rivals.
Murphy, booed by the Queens crowd, is batting .386 with eight home runs and 25 RBIs in 22 games against the Mets since leading them to the 2015 World Series with a record-setting post-season.
“Come here and things are familiar,” he noted. “I don’t know if that has anything to do with it.
“It’s a good way to end the series.”
Minus slugger Yoenis Cespedes and three other injured regulars, New York (8-11) has lost four in a row and eight of nine to fall 5.5 games behind the Nationals, who own the best record in the majors at 13-5.
The winning streak is their longest since a seven-game run last April.
Mets’ manager Terry Collins said Cespedes (left hamstring) told him he’ll be ready to play tomorrow night against Atlanta.
“The concern is getting these guys back,” Collins noted.
“Once we get healthy and get our lineup back in there, I think things will turn around.”
Scherzer (3-1) struck out nine and walked one in his latest win over the Mets–a team he’s often dominated, especially since signing with Washington in January, 2015.
The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, who fanned 17 in a no-hitter at Citi Field on Oct. 3, 2015, pumped his fist and slapped his glove after setting down the crucial hitters in this one.
“Max was some kind of special tonight for us,” Murphy said.
Koda Glover got three outs for his second major-league save, both in the past two days.
Michael Conforto hit his second lead-off homer of the series and had three hits for New York.
Neil Walker’s two-run homer pulled the Mets to 4-3 in the third, but that was all Scherzer allowed.
He got a double-play grounder after Conforto’s one-out single in the fifth and retired his final 10 batters.
Murphy’s second career slam came in the first off Zack Wheeler (1-2), who had sharp stuff throughout his seven innings of four-hit ball.
Zimmerman went deep in the eighth against reliever Josh Smoker to make it 6-3.
Washington improved to 6-0 on a 10-game road trip with its first three-game sweep at Citi Field since August, 2014.
“More than anything, you just try not to freak out,” Walker stressed.
“That’s the absolute worst thing you can do 20 games into a season.
“Nobody’s freaking out in here,” he reiterated.
Elsewhere in the NL, Cincinnati topped Chicago 7-5, Philadelphia beat Atlanta 5-2, St. Louis downed Milwaukee 6-4, Colorado blanked San Francisco 8-0, L.A. Dodgers upended Arizona 6-2, and Miami dumped San Diego 7-3.
Pittsburgh edged the N.Y. Yankees 2-1 in interleague play.