The Mets and the Nationals played 12 innings Tuesday night, each team fighting back to tie or take the lead. The Nationals took an early 3-0 lead, but home runs by Jordany Valdespin and David Wright in the sixth made it 3-2. In the eighth inning, the Mets took a 4-3 lead, just to have the Nationals tie the game in the bottom of the inning. That started a pattern of scoring in even innings, the Mets scoring a single run in the top of the tenth and the twelfth, the Nats once agains tying in the 10th, then winning in the 12th when Bryce Harper hit a two-strike pitch into leftfield for the game winning RBI, the Nationals winning 7-6.

It was an ugly game late as both teams burned through their position players and bullpens early. Because the Nationals had the lead late, however, they had the better defensive team on the field. Valdespin playing shortstop for New York committed two errors in the tenth, leading to the tying run scoring. Elvin Ramirez was tired at the end, and couldn’t find the plate in the bottom of the 12th, walking opposing pitcher Ross Detwiler, who was forced to bat as he was going to go the distance pitching. It was a lot of fun to watch.