Critical Notes

Washington’s Ryan Church backed Mike Bacsik with a home run. (AI Wire photo)

Ryan Church and Austin Kearns homered to back the pitching of Mike Bacsik and lead the Washington Nationals over the New York Mets, 6-2, at Shea Stadium Friday night.

Bacsik (4-6), a former Mets lefthander, limited New York to eight hits over seven innings before turning the game over to a bullpen that led the National League with a 1.92 ERA in July.

The Nationals were heavy underdogs, paying +170 on the moneyline (meaning a winning wager of $100 would yield a $170 profit).

Washington’s offensive support was unusual for Bacsik. The Nationals had scored two runs or fewer in five of his 12 starts this season. They bettered that quickly, bunching four doubles for three runs against Jorge Sosa (7-6) in the second inning.

Sosa has struggled since winning six of his first seven decisions with the Mets after being called up from Triple-A New Orleans on May 5. Friday’s loss was his fifth in seven starts since June 13.

Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran sat out his third straight game with a stomach muscle strain. Alou, in his first game since May 12, doubled on the first pitch he saw in the second inning and went 1-for-4.

Dimitri Young and Church opened the second with consecutive doubles. One out later, Brian Schneider and Nook Logan also had back-to-back doubles for a 3-0 lead.

The Mets got one run back in the bottom of the third when Moises Alou, back from the disabled list after 66 games, doubled, took third on Paul Lo Duca’s single and scored when Lastings Milledge hit into a double play.

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