NEW YORK — Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals spent much of the night annoyed at plate umpire Jerry Meals. They never really figured out how to handle Matt Harvey or Wilmer Flores, either.
The new fan favorite at Citi Field, Flores hit a leadoff home run in the 12th inning to lift the New York Mets over the Nationals, 2-1, on Friday in the opener of a pivotal series between the top teams in the National League East.
Harvey took a shutout into the eighth inning, and the Mets pulled within two games of first-place Washington.
“The problem is we extended guys in the bullpen. [We’ll] see if we can make an adjustment on that tomorrow,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said.
Harper was ejected in the 11th inning after taking a called third strike and screaming right in Meals’ face.
“Just sticking up for my team, and myself, at the same time,” Harper said. “He was bad all night.”
Harper, now 0-for-17 against Harvey, had reached base safely in a career-best 26 consecutive games before going hitless in five at-bats. The fourth-year outfielder has been tossed six times in his career, three this season.
“He needs to stay in the baseball game,” Williams said. “We talked about it. We’ll talk about it again.”
Yunel Escobar tied it in the eighth with a two-out RBI single on Harvey’s final pitch. Tyler Clippard, the longtime Nationals reliever traded to the Oakland Athletics during the offseason and the Mets earlier this week, then needed 13 pitches to strike out Jayson Werth looking on a fastball at the knees.
Carlos Torres (4-4) struck out the side in the 12th. Nationals batters whiffed 16 times and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Two nights after endearing himself to Mets rooters when they saw him wiping away tears at shortstop after he thought he’d been traded, Flores received four standing ovations on an invigorating day for the Mets.
A few minutes before the 4 p.m. trade deadline, the Mets gave their meager offense a major boost by obtaining slugger Yoenis Cespedes from Detroit for two minor league pitchers.
Hours later, Flores drove in both Mets runs and made a spectacular play at second base.
Flores sent a 1-1 fastball from Felipe Rivero (1-1) to left-center for his 11th home run and first in 147 at-bats since June 12 against Atlanta. Frenzied fans in the crowd of 36,164 jumped out of their seats and roared as Flores pumped his arm and circled the bases. Some chanted “Wil-mer Flores! Wil-mer Flores!” as they filed out of the ballpark.
Flores put the Mets ahead in the fourth against Gio Gonzalez with a two-out RBI single off the glove of diving shortstop Ian Desmond.
“It was just a tough situation to run out our bullpen like that,” said Gonzalez, who walked four in 4 2-3 innings. “This is on me. I should have gone deeper into the game and gave us a chance.”
Harvey retired his first 16 batters before Jose Lobaton singled in the sixth, prompting a collective groan and then a warm hand. The right-hander retired 30 consecutive Nationals hitters dating to his July 20 start in Washington, a 7-2 loss to Gonzalez.
Harvey owns a 0.99 ERA in eight career outings against the Nationals, the lowest mark for any pitcher with at least five starts versus the Expos/Nationals franchise. This time, he was backed by a string of exceptional defensive plays.
Flores stretched out for a diving stop in the first, earning his initial standing ovation. Third baseman Juan Uribe made a leaping grab in the third, and right fielder Curtis Granderson a sliding catch in the fourth. Gold Glove center fielder Juan Lagares ran down Desmond’s two-out drive at the 380-foot sign with a runner on second in the seventh.
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