Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit a tiebreaking, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning off Jonathan Papelbon as the resilient New York Mets rallied from a six-run deficit to beat the Washington Nationals 8-7 on Tuesday night after Matt Harvey struggled on the mound.
The Mets’ second straight comeback win over Washington extended their lead in the NL East to six games.
Perhaps making one of his final starts of the regular season, Harvey gave up a career high seven runs on eight hits in 5-1/3 innings and left with New York trailing 7-1.
The Mets erased the deficit with a six-run seventh inning fueled by six walks and a wild pitch. The big blow was a three-run double by Yoenis Cespedes, who one inning earlier committed an error in center field that allowed three runs to score.
Nieuwenhuis gave New York their first lead with a drive to right off Papelbon (3-2). It was Nieuwenhuis’ fourth home run; the other three came in one game against Arizona on July 12.
Addison Reed (3-2) worked the seventh and Jeurys Familia got three outs for his 38th save. With two runners on, Familia got Yunel Escobar to ground into a game-ending double play.
CUBS 8, CARDINALS 5
In St Louis, Missouri, Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo homered and combined for seven RBIs as Chicago earned their fifth straight win, beating St Louis 8-5 in the middle game of a three-game series.
The Cardinals have the best record in the majors at 87-51, but have dropped five of six. Their lead over Pittsburgh in the NL Central slipped to 4.5 games. The Cubs are 6.5 back and are second in the NL wild-card race behind the Pirates.
St Louis was down 8-0 before pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk sparked a five-run seventh with a two-run homer estimated at 138m in the seventh.
In other MLB action, it was:
‧ Pirates 7, Reds 3
‧ Royals 4, Twins 2
‧ Orioles 2, Yankees 1
‧ Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 1
‧ Phillies 5, Braves 0
‧ Marlins 6, Brewers 4
‧ Tigers 8, Rays 7, 13 inns
‧ White Sox 7, Indians 4
‧ Giants 6, Diamondbacks 2
‧ Athletics 4, Astros 0
‧ Dodgers 6, Angels 4
‧ Padres 2, Rockies 1
‧ Rangers 9, Mariners 6
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