Mets shut out by Nationals in loss to complete disappointing series split

WASHINGTON — Jose Quintana appeared wide awake, but the rest of his Mets teammates might have gotten stuck in an Independence Day slumber.

Following an 11:05 a.m. first pitch at Nationals Park for the holiday, the Mets produced exactly one hit Thursday in a 1-0 loss to the Nationals in a game that lasted only 1 hour, 58 minutes.

It left the Mets with a split in the four-game series. They will open another four-game set on Friday in Pittsburgh.

The Mets fell back below .500 with their fourth loss in six games.

Brandon Nimmo wasn’t a fan of the early start, but wouldn’t use it as an excuse.

“When did we ever start at 11 a.m.?” Nimmo said, noting that the Mets had a noon first pitch two years ago for a Peacock streaming service game. “Let’s just go ahead and throw a wrench in things and do something we have never done before, but it’s fine. I felt prepared for today.”

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The scoreless tie was snapped in the eighth on Jesse Winker’s pinch-hit homer against Adrian Houser.

The right-hander Houser had allowed only one earned run over his previous nine relief appearances for a 0.40 ERA.

The Mets received a gem from Quintana, who pitched seven scoreless innings in which he allowed four hits and walked three with a hit batter.

It marked the third time in four starts the left-hander pitched at least six innings and surrendered one earned run or less.

Over that stretch Quintana’s ERA has dropped from 5.29 to 4.22.

“I think the last time I played at 11 a.m. was in the ‘B’ game in spring training,” Quintana said. “But I think we made a good plan: the last two nights we went back to the hotel early and woke up early to catch my sleep. It’s just like spring training games when we wake up early to go to the complex.”

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Jeff McNeil’s single in the third inning was the Mets’ only hit.

The team’s only other base runner was DJ Stewart, who walked in the second inning.

Jake Irvin raised his arms in excitement as he left the mound in the eighth. The right-hander allowed only two base runners over eight innings — one hit and one walk — and struck out eight in 99 pitches.

“The fastball was just plus and he attacked,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And the way he used his breaking ball. I thought we were late at times on his fastball and the way he used his breaking ball kept us off balance so we couldn’t get much going today.”

The Nationals didn’t have much better success against Quintana, but at least got runners into scoring position on multiple occasions.

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In the first inning, Lane Thomas walked and stole second. In the third, Thomas singled and stole second and in the fifth Riley Adams’ single and Jacob Young’s walk gave the Nationals a threat.

Quintana plunked Adams to start the seventh, but retired the next three batters to complete his work for the day.

Winker’s blast in the eighth was the first homer allowed by Houser since May 21, when he was still a starting pitcher.

After winning the first two games in the series the Mets flushed a five-run lead on Wednesday to lose 7-5 and then were sitting in a scoreless tie in the eighth inning a day later.

Nimmo was asked about the frustration of letting a tangible four-game sweep escape.

“I felt the same way about the Houston series,” Nimmo said, referring to last weekend. “We easily could have swept that series and ended up going 1-2. I feel like we easily could have gone 3-1 here and easily swept this series, although today I’m looking at it and it kind of ended up — I really didn’t see anything in there that was a missed opportunity.

“But I think we easily could have come out of this 3-1.”

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