Heading into the MLB trade deadline yesterday, the Washington Nationals were reportedly fielding offers for All-Star outfielder Bryce Harper, who has struggled at the plate this season as his team has hovered around .500. When the 4:00pm trade deadline came and went, Harper was still a member of the Nats as they took the field against the lowly New York Mets.
Harper, 25, went 3-4, including a pair of RBI doubles, but he was far from the only member of the Nationals that did damage at the dish. Former Met Daniel Murphy also went 3-4 with two home runs, as the Nationals smashed a franchise-record 26 hits en route to a franchise-best 25 runs. That's right. Twenty Five.
Things got out of hand quickly in last night's game at Nationals Park, with Washington posting seven runs in the first, followed by an additional three runs in each of the next four innings. At one point, New York Mets veteran shortstop Jose Reyes was even called in to pitch as an emergency reliever and allowed six runs in the eighth inning.
"When you're on the mound, before you throw a pitch, it is fun," Reyes said after his 48-pitch night, according to ESPN. "But when you start to see people hit a homer, you get more serious, because even though I'm not a pitcher, you don't want to see that."
The final score was 25-4, marking the largest victory in Nationals/Expos history and the worst loss in Mets franchise history, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Elias Sports Bureau reports that Washington is just the 10th team in MLB's modern era (since 1900) to score 25 or more runs in a home game.