WASHINGTON — J.D. Martinez went 12 at-bats without a hit over four games — a slump by his standards — but was ready when he received an 0-2 splitter over the plate in the 10th inning Monday night.
Not content to merely squeak across the automatic runner, Martinez unleashed a bomb that cleared the center-field fence and helped take the Mets’ two-game skid with it.
Martinez’s three-run homer against Hunter Harvey propelled the Mets’ 9-7 victory over the Nationals in 10 innings.
The Mets (41-41) have won all four meetings against Washington this season.
“I didn’t even know I was 0-for-12, honestly,” Martinez said, when asked about his drought. “I am just grinding a little bit right now and just trying to figure it out.”
The Mets watched a lead evaporate in the eighth and Jake Diekman barely avoided a Nationals walk-off victory in the ninth.
The Mets kept piling on in the 10th, receiving an RBI triple from Francisco Alvarez and two-run homer from Jose Iglesias following Martinez’s blast.
But most of that cushion was needed: the Nationals scored four runs against lefty Tyler Jay in the bottom of the inning before Reed Garrett recorded the final out with the tying runs on base.
Diekman’s two-base throwing error on James Wood’s squib to start the ninth put the Nationals in position for the win, but the left-hander recorded three straights outs, including a lunging grab by Tyrone Taylor on Jacob Young’s fly to right.
Martinez posted an .874 OPS in June and was among the ringleaders of a recovered lineup that has produced at a high level for the last six weeks.
On this night he came to the plate in the 10th after Harrison Bader was drilled by a pitch and clobbered his 10th homer of the season.
“I thought he was off [with his swing] today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said, referring to Martinez’s first four plate appearances, two of which resulted in strikeouts. “Especially his first couple of at-bats I thought he was a tick off and he still found a way to walk a couple of times … he is grinding right now and still walks twice, three-run homer. That’s what great leaders do.”
David Peterson allowed only one base runner after the third inning.
He lasted 6 ¹/₃ innings and surrendered two earned runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts in lowering his ERA to 3.51.
“David kept it close for us and gave us a chance,” Martinez said.
Taylor misplayed Joey Meneses’ bloop to right in the eighth — generously ruled an RBI double — to tie it 3-3 after Dedniel Nunez walked Jesse Winker.
Nunez had gotten the final two outs in the seventh and retired CJ Abrams and Lane Thomas to begin the eighth before the walk to Winker.
The Nationals took a 2-0 lead against Peterson in the third.
Harold Ramirez and Meneses each delivered an RBI single in the inning after Abrams walked and Thomas singled.
But Peterson avoided major damage by getting Ildemaro Vargas to hit into an inning-ending double play.
An inning earlier Peterson escaped trouble by getting Nick Senzel to hit into a double play following consecutive singles by Wood and Keibert Ruiz.
The highly touted prospect Wood, who started in left field, was making his major league debut and received a rousing ovation before his first plate appearance and following the hit.
The Nationals acquired Wood in the 2022 trade that sent Juan Soto to the Padres.
Mark Vientos’ two-out double in the fourth put runners on second and third for the Mets, but MacKenzie Gore struck out Taylor to end the threat.
Gore was removed with two outs in the sixth with Bader on second base. Derek Law entered and allowed a single to Vientos that gave the Mets their first run.
Taylor followed with a grounder that should have ended the inning, but the ball rolled under the shortstop Abrams’ glove for an error and Alvarez’s ensuing two-run double gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Bader’s leadoff single and stolen base ignited the rally.
“The mindset for me when we score is to go out there and put a zero up,” Peterson said. “I think it’s important … it gives our offense the continued momentum to come back in and the score being the same and trying to add on.”
