Matt Festa from Double-A Arkansas

[officialsbaseball]

WASHINGTON (AP) The New York Mets have been searching for any reason to smile during a miserable season. This laugher wasn’t exactly what they had in mind.In the highest-scoring game in Nationals franchise history , Daniel Murphy hit two early home runs and Washington kept pouring it on against emergency reliever Jose Reyes and the Mets in a 25-4 rout Tuesday night.”Even to throw Jose Reyes out there and the guys hit them like they did, you don’t even see that in BP,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. ”Those guys were locked in, they came out tonight and they beat us up pretty bad.”The Nationals set the team scoring mark dating to their days when they started as the Montreal Expos in 1969. It was the Mets’ most-lopsided loss in their 57-season history, worse than a 26-7 pounding by Philadelphia in 1985.It got so out of hand, Mets television announcers Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Gary Cohen took turns reading verbatim from the team’s media guide in the late innings – the SNY network played the theme from ”Masterpiece Theatre” in the background.Reyes made the first pitching appearance of his career, and the 35-year-old infielder got tagged for home runs by Matt Adams and Mark Reynolds in a six-run eighth. Throwing a fastball in the mid-80s mph and a curve in the upper 40s, Reyes gave up five hits, walked two and threw 48 pitches.Reyes retired Ryan Zimmerman on a flyball to begin the inning. The Nationals went batty after that, and Zimmerman came up again with two outs.This time, Reyes floated in a pitch that hit Zimmerman in the leg. Zimmerman did a little shake in the batter’s box, then playfully faked a charge toward the mound, drawing a laugh from Reyes.”I didn’t want to make two outs against him. I’ve played against Jose for a long time. He’s one of my favorite players to play against,” Zimmerman said. ”He always has a smile on his face. That was pretty funny and surreal to hit against him after all that we’ve been through against each other.”Reyes said he had wanted to pitch in one game before he retires.”When you are on the mound before you throw a pitch, it’s fun ,” he said. ”But when you start to see people hit a homer and stuff … I don’t want to see that.”Asked if he was available for Wednesday’s game, Reyes kidded: ”Not for pitch.”Reyes wore one of ace Jacob deGrom’s gloves on the hill. DeGrom was among many players on both sides chuckling at the spectacle.Trea Turner, who apologized before the game to his teammates for homophobic and racially insensitive tweets he sent several years ago, had four of Washington’s 26 hits. Pitcher Tanner Roark hit a three-run double during a seven-run first inning.Murphy drove in six runs, Anthony Rendon had four RBIs and Zimmerman also homered.Ahead 7-0, the Nationals then scored exactly three runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.Hours after general manager Mike Rizzo capped a relatively uneventful trade deadline day by expressing his confidence in the Nationals as currently constituted, Washington broke loose in evening its record at 53-53.Bryce Harper, who had been mentioned in trade speculation, hit a pair of RBI doubles and scored three times.”It’s been an emotional day and it was a good way to end it,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said.Leading 25-1 in the ninth, the Nationals still hit a little speed bump at the end. Reliever Shawn Kelley gave up a home run to Austin Jackson, wound up and flung his glove to the ground.The homer came after Kelley, working quickly, had been told to slow down by the plate umpire.”I was just trying to get through the inning and get the game over with ,” Kelley said. ”I thought everybody had seen enough baseball for one evening.”Kelley said he was sorry for his tantrum.”You should never throw your glove. We should act like adults,” he said.Jeff McNeil hit his first career home run. As he headed from the plate back the Mets dugout, he already had the souvenir. The ball came back on the field and was flipped to him before he reached the bench.Roark (5-12) went seven innings. Steven Matz (5-9) got only two outs and allowed seven runs in the shortest start of his career.Murphy had an RBI single in the first, a two-run homer in the second and a three-run drive in the third. The ex-Met is hitting .391 (59 for 151) with 11 homers and 43 RBIs against New York.MOVESMets: Claimed INF Jack Reinheimer, 26, off waivers from Arizona and optioned him to Triple-A Las Vegas. Reinheimer, designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on July 27, was batting .237 with three homers and 21 RBIs at Triple-A Reno. To make room on the 40-man roster, OF Yoenis Cespedes was transferred to the 60-day DL.Nationals: Sent reliever Brandon Kintzler to the Cubs for RHP Jhon Romero, who was 1-2 with nine saves and a 3.27 ERA at Class A Myrtle Beach. . Activated Rendon from the family medical leave list. . Recalled RHP Wander Suero from Triple-A Syracuse and optioned INF Matt Reynolds to Syracuse.HIT MACHINEWith two hits, Zimmerman became the all-time hit leader in Nationals/Expos franchise history with 1,696, surpassing Tim Wallach (1,694).TRAINER’S ROOMMets: 1B Wilmer Flores left the game in the first inning with dehydration and dizziness. … INF Todd Frazier (left rib cage muscle strain) is scheduled to play nine innings in a rehab assignment in Brooklyn on Wednesday. … Callaway said OF Jay Bruce (sore right hip) will start hitting on Wednesday.Nationals: RHP Sean Doolittle (left foot stress reaction) had an MRI on Monday, which was virtually unchanged from last week. Doolittle was hoping for improvement, but said the trainers were pleased there was no change.UP NEXTMets RHP Noah Syndergaard (6-1 , 2.89) returns from the disabled list to oppose LHP Tommy Milone (0-0, 5.40) in the series finale.— SEATTLE (AP) — Anytime Nelson Cruz sees something awkward from a pitcher in his delivery, his default is to start screaming that it’s a balk, even if it’s not.For a change, Cruz was exactly right. He pointed and yelled at Los Angeles‘ Dylan Floro, who was called for a balk with one out in the 10th inning that scored Cameron Maybin and gave the Seattle Mariners a 5-4 win over the Dodgers on Saturday night.“He screams balk every opportunity he can, and tonight he finally got one,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “That’s Nellie’s thing. He screams it. He’ll yell it when he’s on the bases, when he’s in the dugout, even in the batter’s box. Anytime the pitcher does anything that looks a little different, he starts screaming balk and he said he called it tonight.”Seattle loaded the bases with one out, and with a one-strike count on Kyle Seager, Floro initiated his delivery before stepping off the mound. First base umpire Andy Fletcher called him for the game-ending balk. There was little argument from Floro, although Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts sought an explanation as Seattle celebrated the odd victory.“That was a tough one. It’s (a balk) obviously when you’re trying to deceive the runner. Obviously, there was no intent to deceive. I thought he stepped off in time, but I looked back at the replay and there was a little bit of a buckle of the knee ,” Roberts said.Seattle led 4-1 entering the eighth inning, but Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy all hit solo home runs to force extra innings. Seattle improved to 12-1 in extra-inning games and 31-16 in one-run games this season.Mitch Haniger led off the 10th with a line-drive single to right on the first pitch from Caleb Ferguson (3-2). Maybin hit into a fielder’s choice. Robinson Cano followed with an infield single, but Brian Dozier’s diving stop of the grounder kept Maybin from reaching third.Floro entered and walked Cruz to load the bases before his mistake. Maybin said he wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary to try and shake Floro, and he could hear Cruz yelling from across the field.“I think (Justin) Turner tried to deke me a little bit, so when he did his little move I kind of jumped a little bit and might have startled him a little bit,” Maybin said. “However you can get them, you take them.”The Mariners remained 3½ games out of first place in the AL West, while the Dodgers wasted a chance to move closer to first-place Arizona in the NL West.Muncy clubbed a 3-2 fastball from closer Edwin Diaz into the right-field seats with one out in the ninth. It was Muncy’s 28th homer of the season and second in as many days. It was the fourth homer allowed this season by Diaz, who ended a streak of converting 28 consecutive save opportunities. Diaz leads the majors with 47 saves, with four blown chances.Seager hit a three-run homer in the first inning, but Seattle’s two most consistent relievers were shaky on the same night.Turner led off the eighth with his eighth home run of the season off Alex Colome, the first run allowed by the right-hander since June 28, a span of 19 appearances. Two batters later, Bellinger’s 20th homer nearly reached the third deck of right field at Safeco Field.Adam Warren (2-1) allowed a leadoff walk but finished off the 10th untouched to get the victory.STARTING OFFNeither Seattle’s Erasmo Ramirez nor Los Angeles’ Rich Hill factored into the decision.Ramirez allowed one run in five innings, giving up three hits. His only issue was four walks allowed that raised his pitch count. Hill gave up four runs in the first inning , and then allowed one hit over the next five innings. He walked a season-high five.ROSTER MOVESeattle added to its bullpen by calling up right-hander Matt Festa from Double-A Arkansas and sending RHP Christian Bergman to Triple-A Tacoma. Bergman worked extensively in relief on Friday. Festa was with Seattle earlier this season and appeared in one game before being sent back to Arkansas.TRAINER’S ROOMDodgers: RHP Yimi Garcia, RHP Josh Fields and LHP Tony Cingrani are all continuing their injury rehab assignments in the minors, but Roberts said none of the three is expected to be ready in the next week. Garcia is likely the first to be ready to rejoin the club. Garcia has been on the DL since July 4, Fields since June 28 and Cingrani since June 7.Mariners: Servais is hopeful LHP James Paxton will be able to start throwing in the next couple of days. Paxton is on the 10-day DL with a left arm contusion after getting hit by a line drive. Servais said the swelling is down and Paxton is working on range of motion with the arm, but has yet to pick up a ball.UP NEXTDodgers: Clayton Kershaw (5-5, 2.47 ERA) faces Seattle for the first time since 2012. Kershaw threw eight innings, allowing one run, in his last start against San Francisco, but did not factor in the decision.Mariners: Roenis Elias (2-0) will come off the disabled list to start. Elias was placed on the DL on July 31 with a triceps strain. Elias has a 2.88 ERA in 13 games this season, with all but one of those coming in relief.