7,464: Delgado homers twice in 10-8 seesaw win over Nats

The New York Mets survived a high-scoring seesaw contest Tuesday night for a 10-8 win over the Washington Nationals.

The Mets jumped on board in the bottom of the second inning on a double by Damion Easley that scored Carlos Delgado and Fernando Tatis, but the Nationals tied it up in the top of the third on a two-run homer by Cristian Guzman.

New York responded with three runs in the bottom half of the third starting with a solo dinger by Ryan Church. David Wright then tried to score on a Carlos Beltran double but was thrown out at home. Delgado followed with a two-run homer up the middle.

But the 5-2 lead wouldn’t hold, as the Nationals in the top of the fourth strung together four straight hits off starter Oliver Perez and another two off reliever Nelson Figueroa to take a 7-5 lead. Perez lasted just 3 1/3 innings, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits and two walks.

The Mets rallied in the bottom of the fourth with a single by Brian Schneider and a double by Jose Reyes. Church drove Schneider home on a ground out and Wright drove home Reyes on a single just over a jumping Zimmerman at short.

After the Nationals retook the lead in the fifth on a ground-out, the Mets responded in the sixth with a two-run homer by Beltran and a solo shot by Delgado – his second of the night – to take a 10-8 lead.

Perez lost his no-hitter in the first inning when Ryan Zimmerman singled to left, increasing our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,464 New York Mets games without a no-hitter. Unfortunate, although it does allow us to debut our new in-post game counter.