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Harvey continues excellent start as Mets down Nats

Apr 20, 2013 - 4:47 AM Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - Matt Harvey outdueled Stephen Strasburg to become the first four-game winner in the majors this season, while Ike Davis and Lucas Duda each belted a pair of home runs to help the New York Mets to a 7-1 victory over the Washington Nationals at Citi Field.

Harvey (4-0) held the Nationals to one run on four hits while striking out seven over seven outstanding innings, with the effort enabling the Mets to stop a string of eight straight losses to their National League East rival in their home park.

"I was pretty pumped up. I wanted to do everything I could to win this game," Harvey said.

The young righty received plenty of support from the combo of Davis and Duda, who combined for five RBI in the opener of this three-game series.

Strasburg (1-3) served up two of the long balls and was reached for four runs, two of which were unearned, while fanning six over six innings of work.

"I'm not having good enough feel early on," Strasburg said. "I'm just not throwing enough strikes early, and it's shooting myself in the foot."

Chad Tracy knocked in Washington's lone run with a seventh-inning single, one of only four hits for the defending NL East champs as they fell for the fifth time in their last seven outings.

Harvey, who has posted a sensational 0.93 ERA over his four-start win streak, was dominant all throughout the evening. The 23-year-old phenom yielded only two hits and a pair of walks while keeping the Nationals off the scoreboard over the game's first six frames.

Strasburg, on the other hand, got off to a rough beginning that was in part due to some shaky defense from his teammates.

Shortstop Ian Desmond booted a grounder off the bat of Mets leadoff hitter Jordany Valdespin in the bottom of the first, and Daniel Murphy followed with a single to put runners at the corners before the Washington ace uncorked a wild pitch to let in the game's first run.

Strasburg retired the next two hitters, but John Buck lashed a single to left that plated Murphy for a 2-0 lead.

The hard-throwing righty then matched zeros with Harvey until Davis opened the bottom of the sixth by crushing the first pitch he saw over the wall in center. One batter later, Duda delivered a mammoth blast that landed in the seats in left center to stake New York to a 4-0 advantage.

Washington finally got to Harvey in the seventh, when consecutive singles by Desmond and Tracy that followed a leadoff walk to Adam LaRoche put the Nats on the board. An error by Murphy then loaded the bases with none out, but Harvey got out of the jam by fanning Kurt Suzuki and getting Roger Bernadina to pop up before retiring Denard Span.

The Mets created some more distance against Drew Storen in the eighth. David Wright tripled to center and came home on Davis' second homer of the night, with Duda matching the feat with his fifth of the season later in the inning.

Game Notes

The Mets have now homered in eight straight games at Citi Field, tying the longest streak at the venue in club history that was set from May 28-June 15, 2008 ... Buck now has 20 RBI on the season, tying him with Baltimore's Chris Davis for the major league lead ... Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was held out after straining his hamstring Wednesday against Miami, while second baseman Danny Espinosa missed a fourth straight contest due to a bruised right forearm ... Span returned to the lineup after sitting two games with a stomach virus and finished 1-for-4 ... The Nationals had won in 12 of their last 13 visits to Citi Field coming in and went 14-4 overall against the Mets last season.