Both Mets and Knicks cruise to victory on a very pleasant Tuesday evening

The Mets earned a much-needed victory on Tuesday night to start their three-game series against the Washington Nationals. Washington might have a better record than the Mets, but this is a franchise that signaled that it plans to continue rebuilding in 2026 with its offseason trade of ace pitcher Mackenzie Gore. Last night, the Mets handled the Nationals like a veteran team should handle a rebuilding one and won 8-0 behind six strong innings from Clay Holmes.

The offense woke up as well with a spark provided by Bo Bichette and his leadoff, opposite-field home run off of struggling Washington starter Zack Littell. New York really got the offense cranked up when Marcus Semien bounced a ground ball to third base with the bases loaded in the fourth inning. It looked like Nationals third baseman Jorbit Vivas had a chance to turn a devastating, inning-ending double play, but the ball slipped under his glove and rolled down the left field line to plate a pair of runs.

That error opened the floodgates for the Mets, as Carson Benge roped Littell’s next pitch into center field to plate Semien. After another single by Ronnie Mauricio and a long sac fly to right field by Bichette, Juan Soto capped the rally with a two-run home run to left field. Now the score was 8-0 Mets, and they cruised to victory thanks to Holmes’ continued excellence.

Holmes, Nolan McLean, and Freddy Peralta have given the Mets a strong top of the rotation, but the last two spots have been hard to figure out because of how terrible Kodai Senga and David Peterson have been. With Senga landing on the injured list yesterday, Christian Scott will get another chance to prove himself as a big leaguer following his disaster of a season debut on Thursday against Minnesota. Peterson was ousted from the rotation a couple of weeks ago, but tonight he’ll get a chance to redeem himself thanks to two solid long relief outings and a lack of better options.

On the Washington side will be Opening Day starter Cade Cavalli, who has a 4.01 ERA this season despite allowing 29 hits and 12 walks in 24.2 innings this season for a 1.66 WHIP. Cavalli was sharp in his last start with 10 strikeouts and no walks in five innings against Atlanta.

Last night was a lot of fun for me because the Knicks also won in blowout fashion. I said before the game that the Knicks needed to defeat the Hawks at Madison Square Garden in Game 5 of their first round playoff series in order to be taken seriously as a title contender. The Knicks passed the test with a 126-97 win that featured 39 points and eight assists from Jalen Brunson. New York’s defense held new nemesis CJ McCollum to just six points on 3-for-10 shooting.

Another good sign for the Knicks’ title hopes was Boston’s shocking loss to Philadelphia in another Game 5. The Celtics were supposed to wrap up the series easily at home, but they were outscored 28-11 in the fourth quarter and lost 113-97 while shooting just 40 percent from the field and 28 percent from three-point range. The 76ers were led by 33 points and eight assists from Joel Embiid. Boston still leads the series 3-2, but it will have to win in Philadelphia to avoid a Game 7 that seemed impossible a day ago.

The dreadful loss by the Celtics combined with top seed Detroit falling behind Orlando 3-1 makes me feel a lot better about the Knicks’ chances to reach the NBA Finals than I did at the start of the NBA Playoffs. Now it’s time to wrap up this series in Atlanta!

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