WASHINGTON — The elements of an embarrassing Mets letdown to start the season were in place, and then boom.
Ian Desmond misplayed a pop-up in the sixth, and Lucas Duda followed with a two-run single against Max Scherzer for the Mets’ first hit of the season. Bartolo Colon kept rolling, and before long Buddy Carlyle, of all people, was recording his first career save.
In the end, it was just another success Monday for the masters of Opening Day known as the Mets, who beat the Nationals 3-1 before a D.C. sellout of 42,295.
“It definitely shows we can compete and compete with the best teams in the league, so hopefully we take this and use it as momentum,” said Duda, whose Mets went 4-15 against the Nationals last season.
But the victory — the Mets’ 35th on Opening Day in the franchise’s 54 years of existence — came with the sobering reality closer Jenrry Mejia might be headed to the disabled list.
Mejia had elbow stiffness warming up in the bullpen before the ninth inning and will undergo an MRI exam on Tuesday in New York.
“He has both pain in flexing and extension, so we have to wait and see,” manager Terry Collins said.
The manager said Jeurys Familia will take over as closer in Mejia’s absence.
Reacting on the fly, Collins used lefty Jerry Blevins to retire Bryce Harper in the ninth before Carlyle entered to get the final two outs.
Scherzer, in his Nationals debut — he signed a $210 million contract with the club in January — took a no-hitter into the sixth and finished the game with three unearned runs allowed over 7 ²/₃ innings, following two Desmond errors.
Only adding to the frustration of facing Scherzer, the Mets had trouble picking up the right-hander’s pitches in the late-afternoon shadows.
“Four o’clock games [stink],” David Wright said. “It’s not fun offensively when you have to deal with Max Scherzer and the shadows.”
Colon may not have been the people’s choice to get the ball for the opener, but Collins and general manager Sandy Alderson were exonerated, after the ancient right-hander pitched six innings and allowed one run on three hits with eight strikeouts and a walk. At 41 years and 317 days, Colon became the oldest pitcher in franchise history to win an opener.
The fact the Nationals were without injured Anthony Rendon, Jayson Werth and Denard Span certainly didn’t hurt the Mets.
“That is a great team, but they are missing three big parts of the lineup, so we have to take advantage of that,” Colon said.
Desmond’s miscues were also something the Mets used to their advantage.
If the misplayed pop-up in the sixth wasn’t big enough, Desmond threw away a Juan Lagares grounder in the seventh before Travis d’Arnaud unloaded for an RBI triple.
The Mets, in their search for a shortstop last offseason, were linked to trade talks involving Desmond. They ended up sticking with Wilmer Flores, who did not commit an error Monday.
“Good teams take advantage of getting four outs a couple of times, and we did that,” Wright said. “We got not many opportunities, and Duda drove in a couple and that is all we needed.”
Harper broke the scoreless tie with a home run leading off the fourth, but Colon then got rolling again, retiring the next eight batters he faced.
The only early trouble for Colon came in the first, after Daniel Murphy had case of the yips on a routine grounder and Duda was pulled off first base receiving his throw. Yunel Escobar was called safe, putting runners on first and second with nobody out, but Colon retired the next three batters.
“When you play [the Nationals] you have got to play very good baseball,” Collins said. “In the first inning we made the error, and fortunately Bart pitched out of it. But you just can’t keep giving good teams outs and we think we’re a good team.”