Last Night in Baseball: The Nationals Crushed The Still-Spiraling Mets

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: After a win on April 7 — the fourth in a row for New York — the Mets were 7-4 and had a +18 run differential. They then lost 12 games in a row. The streak ended on April 22, the day superstar outfielder Juan Soto returned to the lineup from the IL, but New York is just 3-4 since he was activated. The problems ran deeper than just what Soto could solve by coming back, and now we have seen that play out as the Mets are 10-20 — the worst record in the league — with a -34 run differential. They have been outscored by 52 runs over their last 19 games, with Wednesday’s 14-2 drubbing at the hands of the Nationals responsible for getting those numbers back up into horrifying territory. As if to make the point that Soto’s return wasn’t enough on its own, he hit a homer for the second day in a row to cut Washington’s lead to 2-1. The Nats responded by scoring seven runs in the very next inning. Starter David Peterson was still in the game at this point, and even got the first batter of the inning, shortstop CJ Abrams, to strike out swinging. Center fielder Jacob Young followed with a walk, though, then left fielder Daylen Lile singled him into scoring position. The last of the outfielders, Joey Wiemer, singled in Young to put Washington up 3-2, then second baseman Nasim Nunez walked to load the bases. While Peterson managed to get the second out on another strikeout, he then walked in a run with designated hitter James Wood up to bat, forcing the Mets to make a change. Sean Manaea entered with the bases still juiced, but things did not improve. He hit the first batter he faced, first baseman Curtis Mead, and then third baseman Brady House hit a grand slam on a sub-90 mph four-seam fastball left up in the strike zone. The Nationals had now batted around, and Abrams even lashed a double in his second time up. The Mets escaped giving up any more runs, however — but only in that inning. New York would allow another five before the game mercifully ended, with Peterson responsible for seven runs and Manaea the next six. It’s wild — not meaningful, just wild — to beat a team 8-0 one day then lose by 12 the next, but that’s the 2026 Mets right now. The lineup doesn’t hit enough most of the time, and the starting pitching veers between excellent (Clay Holmes, Nolan McLean) and atrocious (Peterson, Kodai Senga) with the bullpen having a similarly worrisome dichotomy. Injuries are a problem, of course — Soto, as well as shortstop Francisco Lindor and DH (?) Jorge Polanco — but so too was the “I can fix him” mentality surrounding pickups like Luis Robert Jr., who has hit .224/.327/.329 this season; or, right in line with his last two seasons. Throw in Marcus Semien’s bat continuing its mid-30s decline and Soto being the only regular with an above-average bat to this point, and you have the 2026 Mets. The Braves started out in this game against the Tigers in a way that implied good things were going to happen, but Atlanta had to wait a lot longer than expected for that next good thing to actually occur. You would think that a two-run homer off the defending AL Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, meant that a big night was coming for the offense, but no: Skubal locked things down and gave up only this two-run shot to second baseman Ozzie Albies and nothing else. That gave the Tigers time to recover, and they did. Center fielder Wenceel Perez hit a two-out double to left in the very next half-inning, then DH Jace Jung walked to put two on for shortstop and leadoff hitter Kevin McGonigle. The rookie singled to center, putting Detroit on the board, then a throwing error by Braves’ starter JR Ritchie on a pickoff attempt led to a tie game. The next inning, left fielder Riley Greene put the Tigers ahead with a solo shot, his fourth of the season. That would be it for either side for some time, though. Skubal settled in, but so did Ritchie, as he got through 2.1 more innings before he was listed without giving up another run. The Braves’ bullpen would come in and strike out six of the 11 batters it faced, without giving up a walk, hit or run, setting Atlanta up for the dramatic finish in the bottom of the ninth. Tigers’ closer Kenley Jansen came in to wrap up the one-run game, but instead, leadoff batter Albies walked and first baseman Matt Olson went yard right after. Atlanta still has the best record and run differential in the majors, and while the quality of the Tigers as a whole is an open question, winning a game that Skubal starts is no joke. The back-to-back Cy Young winner has just a 2.70 ERA on the season, and that’s the highest it’s been since 2023. The Braves got their walk-off dinger, but not everyone was so lucky. The Pirates certainly tried to go yard for the W against St. Louis, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Or Cards, if you will. The scene: The Cardinals are up 5-4 in the ninth, but they were at one point up 3-0. Pittsburgh chipped away little by little, between the fifth and eighth innings, and had one more chance to add on at home in the ninth. While right fielder Bryan Reynolds led off the frame with his fourth out of the game and DH Marcell Ozuna made it just a 1-for-5 night for the second, in between, first baseman Ryan O’Hearn singled. That brought second baseman Nick Gonzales up with the tying run on and two outs, while he represented the winning run. And he almost got the storybook ending out of the scenario, too, but left fielder Ryan Church was right where he needed to be. It wasn’t the prettiest grab at the wall you’ll ever see, but it counts the same in the boxscore as the most majestic home run robberies. And it ended the game, too, giving St. Louis the dub. One reason that the Braves still have the best record in baseball at this point? The Marlins just took a series from the Dodgers. And did so on the road at Dodger Stadium, too, the first time that Miami has managed that feat in nearly a decade, as the last time occurred in 2018. Dodgers’ starter Tyler Glasnow was not at his sharpest: he struck out nine and allowed just three hits, but he also walked six Marlins in 5.2 innings and gave up two runs. Just two runs is a pretty great day considering those walks, but Glasnow was certainly doing a tightrope act against Miami. Will Klein got through one inning of relief for the Dodgers to keep the game tied up 2-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, but the Dodgers tried to get another inning out of him in the eighth, but the Marlins strung together a couple of singles from second baseman Xavier Edwards and left fielder Javier Sanoja, who had entered the game earlier as a pinch-hitter, to take a 3-2 lead. Things got a little weird in the bottom of the ninth with the Dodgers attempting to rally against new pitcher Calvin Faucher. Shortstop Hyeseong Kim led off with a walk following a failed ABS challenge from Miami, then left fielder Alex Call picked up his own to put two on and no outs. The Marlins got their first out on a sac bunt that moved the runners over, and then intentionally walked designated hitter Shohei Ohtani for a litany of reasons. While the Dodgers’ lineup depth means the threat doesn’t end with Ohtani, here, it did: first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a chopper right to Edwards at second, and Ohtani got caught in a rundown as he was way off the bag at the point the ball was scooped up. This led to an unassisted double play when Ohtani couldn’t get away from Edwards right next to first base. The Mets weren’t the only team to get crushed on Wednesday: in fact, the Reds were hit so hard that they now have a negative run differential despite sitting atop the NL Central. The Rockies — who now have the same negative run differential of -5 as Cincinnati after this win — came out of the gate in attack mode. With the bases loaded in the top of the first, catcher Brett Sullivan hit a bases-clearing, two-out triple to put Colorado up 3-0. The Rockies would add another run in the third on a double by second baseman Willi Castro, then again in the fifth when DH Hunter Goodman hit his eighth long ball of the season… …and then Goodman would clear the fence again in the seventh for his ninth. Colorado was up 7-0 at this point, but they weren’t done yet — an eighth run scored on a sac fly post-Goodman, and then the Rockies piled on in the ninth with another five runs. Jose Trevino came on in relief for Cincinnati, and things did not go well: he allowed six hits and all five runs were earned, and all the two runs the Reds scored in the bottom of the inning did was keep them from being shut out. The Rockies are now a full game up on the Giants in the NL West, as San Francisco’s game with the Phillies was postponed into a doubleheader on Thursday. Colorado, meanwhile, has a chance to win the series — their second series W in a row — if they can beat Cincinnati again on Thursday. Blue Jays designated hitter George Springer has been on the IL for the past couple of weeks with a broken toe, with his last game action coming on April 11. Toronto’s manager, John Schneider, knew just what was needed to get Springer back in business: warmed-up bats. But hey, Schneider’s plan worked. Springer came in as a pinch-hitter for Yohendrick Pinango in the bottom of the fifth, and promptly singled in first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to put the Blue Jays up 6-1 on the Red Sox. Given Toronto would win 8-1, maybe Schneider warmed up everyone’s bats before the game. The Angels are a mess, but there’s something to hold onto, at least, that hasn’t been the case for a few years now: Mike Trout has been an extremely dangerous hitter again, and on Wednesday he hit his 10th home run of the season. It wasn’t the titanic shot he’s had a few of this season, sure, as it went just 364 feet and didn’t crack a triple-digit exit velocity, but they don’t all have to be majestic blasts. And this one still got out of there in a hurry. Trout is now batting .248/.431/.569 while leading the majors in walks with 32. He’s been dangerous — hence all those free passes — and the result so far is a .999 OPS, which also happens to be what he finished the 2022 season with, the last time he looked like this much of a problem at the plate for opposing pitchers. Oh, and Trout — as well as James Wood — are the only other players besides Barry Bonds to have at least 10 home runs and 30 walks through the end of April, per Baseball Reference. He’s already surpassed his end-of-season wins above replacement for both 2024 and 2025, to boot — the Angels might be bad, but baseball is better when Mike Trout is good. The Diamondbacks won against the Brewers on Thursday, 6-2, thanks to a four-run fourth inning that included dingers from backstop Adrian Del Castillo and third baseman Nolan Arenado — a feat repeated in the ninth when second baseman Ketel Marte and right fielder Corbin Carroll added some insurance for Arizona by going back-to-back. The highlight of the game, though, came from first baseman Ildemaro Vargas, who went 2-for-5 with a run to extend his hitting streak to 25 games. The streak began right at the end of 2025, and Vargas has batted an MLB-best .372 in his 22 games this season. He’s not just hitting for average, however, as Vargas — who has already played at six positions for the Diamondbacks in 2026 — has a line of .372/.393/.698. That slugging percentage also leads the National League, on account of his high batting average and 14 extra-base hits. Arizona’s franchise record, by the way, is 30 games, set by Luis Gonzalez in 1999. You can’t get too excited in either direction over a 14-game stretch, but Cubs’ center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has looked awful at the plate since the All-Star break last season. A 14-game stretch where he’s hitting pretty well can offer nothing but hope, considering. Against the Padres, PCA went yard in the fourth inning with a 357-footer to right field. His OPS+ for the season is now up to 94 and his unadjusted OPS is at .669, neither of which seems great until you remember he was at just .504 two weeks ago. He’s hit .288/.383/.481 with a pair of homers and five extra-base hits overall in his last 15 games, which would be huge for the Cubs if it represents some actual improvement in his swing first, ask no questions later approach at the plate that’s dragged down his numbers for months. Armstrong’s power is tremendous, but he also chases and makes poor decisions at the plate: if he can settle in a bit more and stop being exploited by pitchers so regularly, well. Even an average Pete Crow-Armstrong at the plate is a serious player with the glove he has, but he has the potential to be better than that if he, too, can adjust.​The Nationals hit back against the Mets, the Braves hit a walk-off homer, the Pirates try to do the same, Mike Trout is mashing like the old days and more from Thursday’s MLB action.