Mets lose 0-1 to Nationals and split the four-game series

WASHINGTON – Jose Quintana appeared wide awake, but the rest of his Mets teammates may have been stuck in an Independence Day slumber.

After the holiday’s first pitch at 11:05 a.m. at Nationals Park on Thursday, the Mets managed exactly one hit and lost 1-0 to the Nationals. The game lasted just 1 hour and 58 minutes.

This ended the four-game series for the Mets in a tie. They will open another four-game series in Pittsburgh on Friday.

With their fourth loss in six games, the Mets fell back below .500.

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

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

The scoreless tie was broken in the eighth inning by a pinch-hit home run by Jesse Winker against Adrian Houser.

The right-hander Houser had allowed only one earned run in his previous nine appearances as a relief pitcher and achieved an ERA of 0.40.

Quintana delivered a brilliant performance for the Mets, pitching seven scoreless innings in which he allowed four hits, three walks and struck out one hit batter.

It was the third time in four starts that the left-hander pitched at least six innings and allowed one or fewer earned runs.

During this period, Quintana’s ERA 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 up on sleep. It’s just like the spring training games when we get up early to go to the complex.”

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

The team’s only other baserunner was DJ Stewart, who received a walk in the second inning.

Jake Irvin raised his arms in excitement as he left the mound in the eighth inning.

The right-hander allowed only two baserunners in eight innings – one hit and one walk – and struck out eight players in 99 pitches.

“The fastball was just good and he attacked,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “And the way he used his breaking ball. I thought we were too late to react to his fastball at times and the way he used his breaking ball threw us off balance so we couldn’t get much done today.”

The Nationals were not much more successful against Quintana, but at least they got their runners into a good position to score points several times.

In the first inning, Lane Thomas walked and stole second base. In the third inning, Thomas hit a single and stole second base, and in the fifth inning, the Nationals threatened with Riley Adams’ single and Jacob Young’s walk.

Quintana struck out Adams to start the seventh inning, but retired the next three batters, finishing his work for the day.

Winker’s hit in the eighth inning was the first home run Houser allowed since May 21, when he was still the starting pitcher.

After winning the first two games of the series, the Mets blew a five-run lead on Wednesday, but then lost 7-5 and were tied in the eighth inning a day later.

Nimmo was asked about the frustration he feels at missing out on a tangible win in four games.

“I felt the same way about the Houston series,” Nimmo said, referring to last weekend. “We easily could have won that series and ended up 1-2. I think we easily could have won 3-1 here and easily won that series, although I look at it today and it kind of turned out that way, I really didn’t see anything in there that was a missed opportunity. But I think we easily could have come out of it 3-1.”