Gomes' walk-off backs Fedde as streak hits 5

WASHINGTON -- “A win is a win is a win is a win,” said Yan Gomes.

For the fourth time this season, the Nationals walked it off. Gomes’ game-winning RBI single secured the team's fifth consecutive victory, a 1-0 defeat of the Mets at Nationals Park on Friday night, extending Washington’s longest winning streak of the season.

“Everyone's excited right now,” said manager Dave Martinez. “We're playing good baseball. Guys come out of the bullpen throwing strikes. Starting pitching, [Erick] Fedde, what an unbelievable job that he did for us today. We just got to keep going. Like I told the boys, ‘Hey, one day at a time.’”

Fedde fanned six batters and held the Mets to two hits over seven innings. The bullpen continued the scoreless outing, recording the Nats’ seventh shutout of the season.

The Nats' offense had opportunities earlier in the game, however it was the ninth-inning rally that put them on top over the NL East-leading Mets.

Juan Soto worked an eight-pitch walk to start the final inning, and he advanced to third on a single smacked by Ryan Zimmerman. Gomes breathed a sigh of relief and praised a higher power when he saw his single stay fair down the left-field line. Zimmerman had the same reaction as his catcher.

“We're just kind of getting into a rhythm a little bit,” said Zimmerman. “The offense is still not clicking on all cylinders, but we've been grinding out at-bats a little bit better. You can't do anything about the first however many games we've played. You can only kind of do what you can with the games that are in the future. If we keep playing good baseball, we feel like we have a good team.”

The season-high winning streak is encouraging for both the Nats players and their skipper, who has said over and over that it takes one game to turn things around. Sometimes, it takes just one big hit.

Friday’s win felt like one of those moments for the Nationals, who know a thing or two about having a slow start to a season and turning things around. Martinez’s now infamous line “go 1-and-0 today” has been preached since the 2019 season; however, it has resonated with veterans, like Zimmerman, and younger guys, like Fedde.

“A lot of my career has been being called up for somebody being down,” said Fedde on how his mindset has changed during his 20-inning scoreless streak. “I think this is the first time I can really say I feel like I've fulfilled that role. For that to finally happen, it's nice. I just want to continue to do that.”

The four-game series against the Mets feels a little bigger; a few wins could close the gap for the Nationals, who are now six games back of first place in the division. Martinez, though, doesn’t like to think about the big picture. He will take the win for what it is worth. In the words of his catcher, it is a win.

“When you play 162 games, you’re gonna win some games like this, you're gonna lose some games,” said Martinez when asked if this win feels any different than others. “But, it feels really good to come on top after the way we played tonight.”