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Mets blank Nationals

Apr 21, 2013 - 10:57 PM Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - John Buck hit a solo home run and Mike Baxter added an RBI, and the New York Mets relied on 5 2/3 shutout innings from Dillon Gee to take a 2-0 victory over the Washington Nationals in the rubber match of a three-game set.

Gee (1-3) allowed just three hits and three walks while striking out six to avoid becoming the first Mets starter since Steve Trachsel in 2001 to lose his first four starts of April.

David Wright walked twice and scored a run for the Mets, who won a series versus Washington for the first time since September 2-4, 2011.

"We haven't got everything all in sync," Washington manager Davey Johnson said. "The bullpen is starting to come together and I think we'll be fine."

Washington starter Jordan Zimmermann (3-1), who was looking to become the first Nationals pitcher in 16 years to win his first four starts of the season, gave up two runs on two hits over five innings. He fanned four and walked three.

"I had to battle all day and I was behind in the count most of the day," Zimmermann said, "and when you do that, you are going to throw a lot more pitches."

Buck put the Mets on the board by leading off the bottom of the second inning with a solo blast to left for his seventh homer and 22nd RBI of the season.

Wright drew a walk in the fourth and soon advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Ike Davis. After Lucas Duda walked to load the bases, Baxter hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to score Wright and make it 2-0.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Gee ran into some trouble. He walked Bryce Harper and followed with a wild pitch before walking Adam LaRoche to put runners on first and second. LaTroy Hawkins then came on in relief and ended the threat by striking out Ian Desmond.

Washington's best chance of finding the scoreboard came in the eighth versus reliever Scott Rice. Steve Lombardozzi opened up the inning with a pinch-hit single and Denard Span was walked. Rice, however, forced Jayson Werth to ground into a 6-4-3 double play and then struck out Harper to end the inning and bring the home crowd to its feet.

"Jayson Werth gets paid a lot of money to be driving in runs, so he's going to be hacking in those types of situations." Rice said. "[I was thinking], 'Just get out of it. Get a ground ball, throw a strike.' I was having a little trouble getting the ball over the plate today, but I was able to make the pitch when it mattered and got out of it."

Bobby Parnell tossed a perfect ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

Game Notes

The last Washington pitcher to win his first four starts of the season was Pedro Martinez, who won his first seven outings in 1997 when the team was in Montreal ... Gee is 4-1 in seven games versus the Nationals ... Washington had won 13 of its last 15 games at Citi Field ... Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the disabled list Saturday with a hamstring injury. Anthony Rendon replaced him in the lineup after being recalled from the minors and went 0-for-4 ... Harper and Werth combined for two of the Nationals' four hits.