Daniel Murphy hit two home runs to key the highest-scoring game ever for the Nationals, who pounded out 26 hits and won 25-4 Tuesday night in the most lopsided defeat in Mets history.
WASHINGTON — In the highest-scoring game in franchise history, Daniel Murphy hit two early home runs and the Washington Nationals kept pouring it on against emergency reliever Jose Reyes and the New York Mets in a 25-4 rout Tuesday night.
Trea Turner, who apologized before the game to his teammates for homophobic and racially insensitive tweets he sent several years ago, had four of Washington’s 26 hits. Pitcher Tanner Roark hit a three-run double during a seven-run first inning.
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Nationals shortstop Trea Turner elaborated on his apology for offensive tweets, saying he is «truly sorry» and wants to take full responsibility. Teammate Sean Doolittle also talked about his reaction when Turner’s tweets surfaced.
The Nationals set the team scoring mark dating to their days as the Montreal Expos in 1969 and were just the 10th team in MLB’s modern era (since 1900) to score 25 or more runs in a home game, according to Elias Sports Bureau. The 21-run win was also the largest in Nationals/Expos history, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
«It was pretty exciting,» Nats manager Davey Martinez said. «They came out to play today. Good at-bats all day. Tanner pitching the way he pitched was awesome. Just all around good day. Been an emotional day, good way to end it.
For the Mets, it was the most-lopsided loss in their 57-season history, worse than a 26-7 pounding by Philadelphia in 1985.
The Nationals led 19-0 through five innings, marking only the second time that has happened in MLB history, according to Elias. The first occurrence was on May 13,1876, when the Hartford Dark Dukes held a 21-0 lead over the New York Mutuals through five innings.
Reyes made the first pitching appearance of his career, and the 35-year-old infielder got tagged for home runs to Matt Adams and Mark Reynolds in a six-run eighth. Throwing a fastball in the mid-80s mph and a curve in the upper 40s, Reyes gave up five hits and walked two.
Reyes also plunked Ryan Zimmerman with a soft toss. After getting hit in the leg, Zimmerman playfully faked a charge toward the mound, drawing a laugh from Reyes.
«When you’re on the mound, before you throw a pitch it is fun,» Reyes said. «But when you start to see people hit a homer, you get more serious, because even though I’m not a pitcher, you don’t want to see that.»
The game got so out of hand, Mets television announcers Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Gary Cohen took turns reading verbatim from the team’s media guide in the late innings — the SNY network played the theme from «Masterpiece Theatre» in the background.
The Nationals’ offense, which entered the day 16th in the majors this month with 4.8 runs per game, moved up to a tie for second at 5.6 runs per game in July.
Murphy drove in six runs, Anthony Rendon had four RBIs and Zimmerman also homered.
Ahead 7-0, the Nationals then scored exactly three runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.
Hours after general manager Mike Rizzo capped a relatively uneventful trade deadline day by expressing his confidence in the Nationals as currently constituted, Washington broke loose in evening its record at 53-53.
Bryce Harper, who had been mentioned in trade speculation, hit a pair of RBI doubles and scored three times.
Leading 26-1 in the ninth, the Nationals still hit a little speed bump at the end. Reliever Shawn Kelley gave up a home run to Austin Jackson, wound up and flung his glove to the ground.
Jeff McNeil hit his first career home run. As he headed from the plate back the Mets dugout, he already had the souvenir. The ball came back on the field, and was flipped to him before he reached the bench.
Roark (5-12) went seven innings. Steven Matz (5-9) got only two outs and allowed seven runs in the shortest start of his career.
Murphy had an RBI single in the first, a two-run homer in the second and a three-run drive in the third. The ex-Met is hitting.391 (59 for 151) with 11 homers and 43 RBIs against New York.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
