Brandon Nimmo homered and drove in three runs as the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 4-2 Tuesday in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Atlanta Braves started the day with a magic number one for winning the division after sweeping a three-game series from the Mets over the weekend and effectively did so by beating the Miami Marlins 2-1.
The playoff-bound Mets led the division for 175 days, led by 10 1/2 games on June 1 and led by seven games on Aug. 10, three days after winning four of five from Atlanta at home.
"We pay attention here to the game we are playing at the moment and I think the most important thing is to win the game."New York starter Carlos Carrasco said.
The doubleheader at Citi Field began in rough conditions in front of a sparse crowd that included some dogs as part of a promotion of "bark in the park" and endured the rain for the last three innings.
Nimmo hit his 15th home run, a two-run single and a double. Jeff McNeil opened up a three-point lead over Dodgers star Freddie Freeman in the NL batting race with two hits to raise his average to .328.
Carrasco allowed two runs on five hits over four innings. Adam Ottavino (6-3) pitched 1 2/3 innings and Edwin Diaz got four outs for his 32nd save.
"He gave us what he had"Showalter said."In a slightly different situation, we probably let him continue, but we had a lot of people available".
Riley Adams hit a two-run homer for Washington, who won two of three over the Mets last month.
The Nationals suffered their 105th loss and officially achieved the worst record in the National League.