NEW YORK — Noah Syndergaard brought his 100 mph heat and struck out 10, Curtis Granderson homered on Max Scherzer’s first pitch, and the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 2-0 Tuesday night to stop a four-game skid.
Daniel Murphy returned to Citi Field with a major league-best .400 batting average and drew two early standing ovations, then got booed. The former Mets postseason star got one of five hits Syndergaard (4-2) gave up in seven innings.
Michael Conforto also homered as the Mets sent the NL East leaders to their third straight loss. Jeurys Familia worked the ninth for his 13th save in as many chances.
Scherzer (4-3) also struck out 10 in his first start since fanning a record-tying 20 against Detroit in his last outing. Kerry Wood set the modern mark of 33 strikeouts in consecutive starts in 1998.
Scherzer allowed just three hits in 6 1/3 innings but two of them left the ballpark.
Granderson led off with a high fly that kept carrying and landed beyond the right-field wall. It was some late revenge for him - last October, Granderson popped up for the final out when Scherzer pitched his second no-hitter of the season, fanning 17 in an overwhelming win at this ballpark.
Syndergaard came out blazing, exactly a year after he won in his big league debut. Now the hardest thrower among big league starting pitchers, he hit 100 mph with seven of his pitches in the first inning. He was under control, too, walking none.
Nationals slugger Bryce Harper hit an easy comebacker and struck out twice against Syndergaard. Earlier in the day, they ran into each other at an ESPN presentation at the midtown theatre where “The Lion King” is playing, and Harper joked that it was a bit awkward.
Syndergaard escaped his only jam in the second, getting Wilson Ramos to ground into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners. The big right-hander nicknamed “Thor” struck out at least 10 for the seventh time in his 32 starts with the Mets.
Murphy homered in a postseason record six straight games last October, and got a standing ovation when the Mets played a one-minute video montage of his highlights on the scoreboard before the game. He waved his hat to acknowledge the cheers.
Murphy got another ovation when he batted for the first time, but got booed his next time up. Murphy became a free agent after helping the Mets reach the World Series, and the second baseman signed a $37.5 million, three-year deal with the Nationals.
Mets infielder Matt Reynolds was promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas and made his major league debut. Batting ninth, he went 0 for 3. Reynolds was on the NL playoff roster last year after shortstop Ruben Tejada was injured, but didn’t play.
Mets first baseman Lucas Duda didn’t start because of a stiff back. Manager Terry Collins said Duda got an injection Monday to help, and would probably sit Wednesday vs. Nats lefty Gio Gonzalez.
Lefty Gio Gonzalez (2-1, 1.93) pitches Wednesday for the Nationals and is 9-4 lifetime against the Mets. He’s handled Granderson well, striking him out 10 times in 30 at-bats.
For the Mets, Bartolo Colon (3-2, 3.53) gave up five earned runs at Dodger Stadium in his last start, the most he’d allowed since last Aug. 21.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.