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Mets return to Citi Field, open set vs. Nats

Apr 30, 2015 - 11:34 AM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Mets are back home for the next six games and will start a four-game series Thursday versus the NL East-rival Washington Nationals at Citi Field.

The Mets are scheduled to play the Baltimore Orioles twice on this residency and are 10-0 at home. They have won 12 straight at Citi Field dating back to last season, matching a club record for consecutive wins as the host.

New York, though, went 2-4 on its recent road trip against the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, and had won 11 in a row before the trek. The club lost the last two meetings of a three-game set in Miami, including Wednesday's 7-3 setback in the series finale.

Bartolo Colon was aiming for a 5-0 start, but was touched for four runs and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings.

"I thought I pitched a good game and the team behind me gave me support," Colon said. "Too bad I couldn't pick them up when I needed to."

Michael Cuddyer gave the Mets an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the first inning and Miami evened the score in the bottom half on Giancarlo Stanton's two-run blast. Curtis Granderson put New York back on top, 3-2, when he scored on a groundout in the third. The Marlins then scored the next five runs to win the game.

Kevin Plawecki recorded a pair of hits for the Mets, who still have one of the best records in baseball at 15-7.

New York has 15 wins in April and the club record is 16 set in 2002 (16-10) and matched in 2006 (16-8).

Jacob deGrom draws the start for the Mets Thursday and is 2-2 with a 2.96 ERA in four starts. He had a personal two-game win streak stopped in a 6-1 loss at Yankee Stadium last Friday and gave up a season-high six runs and eight hits in a season-low five innings.

The right-hander was coming off back-to-back scoreless performances against Philadelphia and Miami. DeGrom lost at Washington in his season debut on April 8 and allowed two runs in six innings of a 2-1 setback. He is 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two career starts against the Nationals.

Washington took the last two tests of a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves and recorded a 13-4 triumph on Wednesday. Denard Span hit a three-run homer during a four-run ninth inning to rub salt in the wound and starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann drove in three runs in a four-run fourth.

Zimmermann earned the win and gave up four runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in seven innings. Matt Grace and Aaron Barrett each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.

Danny Espinosa went 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, and Bryce Harper scored three times for the Nationals, who were coming off a thrilling 13-12 comeback victory on Tuesday. It is the first time in franchise history that the Nationals have scored 13 runs in back-to-back games.

"I think we had good at-bats," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "We kept getting those opportunities. We came through today."

The Nats' current win streak comes on the heels of six straight losses.

Stephen Strasburg will try to keep the wins coming when he takes the mound for Washington Thursday. Strasburg is only 1-2 with a 4.88 earned run average in four starts and struggled in an 8-0 loss at Miami on Saturday, charged with four runs and eight hits in six innings.

Strasburg threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball in a 4-1 win over Philadelphia the previous time out and lost to the Mets on April 9. He allowed six runs (3 earned) and nine hits across 5 1/3 innings. In seven career starts against the Mets, the right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.55 ERA.

The Nationals lost two of three meetings with New York from April 6-9 in DC, but are 11-4 in the previous 15 games in this series.