Jake Irvin gave up one hit over eight scoreless innings and Jesse Winker delivered a pinch-hit home run the eighth inning as the Washington Nationals pulled out a 1-0 victory over the New York Mets on Thursday in a tidy 1 hour, 58 minutes.
Winker belted his 10th home run of the season to make his mark on a pitchers’ duel. Nationals right-hander Derek Law pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for his first save.
Irvin (7-6) had eight strikeouts and one walk. It was the first time he pitched through the eighth inning in his career and he finished off his quality start by retiring 17 straight batters. The Mets final 20 batters of the game went down in succession.
Mets reliever Adrian Houser (1-5) gave up the home run to Winker and was saddled with the loss after seven scoreless innings from starter Jose Quintana, who gave up four hits with three walks and one strikeout.
It was Winker’s sixth home run in 23 career at-bats against Houser.
The teams split a four-game series.
Jeff McNeil had the lone hit for the Mets, a single to center in the third inning. The only other New York baserunner came on a walk from DJ Stewart in the second inning as the Mets did not get a runner to second base.
New York was shut out for the seventh time this season and the first since a 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 28.
Riley Adams went 2-for-2 and was hit by a pitch in his return to the Nationals. Adams was recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Wednesday.
James Wood and Lane Thomas each had a hit for Washington, which left a runner on second base in the first, third and fifth innings. Thomas also walked and had two stolen bases.