WASHINGTON (AP) — As Mickey Callaway’s first season as manager of the New York Mets winds to an end Jonathan Lucroy Jersey , he’s receiving more chances to see the club’s young pitchers in key spots out of the bullpen.He had to be pleased with how they fared late in a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.Jose Lobaton hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly against his former team in the 12th inning, while Jacob Rhame (1-2) worked two scoreless innings after entering the night with a 7.00 ERA.“He threw the ball over the plate,” Callaway said. “He threw the ball down when he needed to. He elevated when he needed to and he mixed in his off-speed pitches in quality locations. All these young guys did a great job tonight. They have great stuff, and when they can throw the ball over the plate and control the count, they’re going to be successful.”Rhame wasn’t the only Mets rookie to thrive Thursday. Left-hander Daniel Zamora outlasted Washington outfielder Bryce Harper, eventually cajoling a long flyout in the eighth inning to retire the only batter he faced. Tyler Bashlor pitched a perfect ninth to send the game to extra innings.Lobaton, who spent the previous four years in Washington before signing with the Mets in December, lofted a one-out fly ball off Jefry Rodriguez (3-3) with the bases loaded to score Amed Rosario in the 12th. Paul Sewald earned his second save.Harper was ejected in the 12th for arguing home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn’s called third strike.“He was walking away,” Washington manager Dave Martinez said. “I don’t know what he said. I haven’t talked to him. But he was walking away. Should be done deal, whatever. When the umpire threw him out I was really surprised.”Washington starter Max Scherzer pitched seven innings Carlos Gonzalez Jersey , allowing three runs while striking out 13. He has 290 strikeouts this year, the most for a National since the franchise relocated from Montreal before the 2005 season. Scherzer set the previous mark of 284 in 2016.However, he never held a lead Thursday. Michael Conforto smashed a two-run homer to left in the third, his 27th of the season. It was also his fourth home run in 23 career at-bats against Scherzer.Four pitches later, Jay Bruce crushed his ninth home run of the season. It was the sixth time this season New York has hit back-to-back homers.“It’s frustrating because I thought I was sharp,” Scherzer said. “I was also a little mechanically off just a touch. My fastball was running away from me. Every time I tried to go glove side with it early part of the game it was traveling to the other side of the plate. I got away with it a couple times. I think there in the third they made me pay for it when I didn’t locate it the way I can.”Washington’s Trea Turner led off the sixth with an infield single. Two batters later, Anthony Rendon golfed Jason Vargas‘ changeup to deep left for his 100th career home run to narrow the deficit to 3-2. Vargas allowed two runs and struck out eight over 5 2/3 innings.Jeff McNeil led off the eighth with a triple and scored two batters later when Bruce punched a single to right past a drawn-in infield. But the Nationals responded with Rendon’s run-scoring groundout and Juan Soto’s RBI double off Robert Gsellman in the bottom half of the inning.TRAINER’S ROOMMets: INF Wilmer Flores will miss the rest of the season after receiving injections in both knees to alleviate the pain of early onset arthritis. “It was probably a month and a half ago when I started feeling it,” Flores said. “I was battling out there. I’m not going to make excuses because I was playing and giving my 100 percent. At this point, I’m not out there every day and the season is almost over. I felt like I needed to take care of this right away.”CALLAWAY TOSSEDCallaway was ejected in the 10th inning for arguing after Reyburn ruled McNeil had offered on a bunt attempt. “I thought it was kind of two in a row and it put our hitter in a huge situation down 0-2,” Callaway said. “I lost it.”SOD STATE OF AFFAIRSWashington 2B Adrian Sanchez and New York OF Dominic Smith both left divots in the outfield while making plays early in the game.“Honestly http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-dj-lemahieu-jersey , in 1986, when the Mets clinched, the only time I’ve ever seen the field with chunks missing like that was the next day when fans ripped everything out,” Martinez said.UP NEXTMets: RHP Jacob deGrom (8-9, 1.78 ERA), who is 5-1 with a 2.76 ERA lifetime at Nationals Park, gets the nod for New York as the four-game series continues.Nationals: RHP Joe Ross (0-0, 3.60) makes his second start since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. WASHINGTON — The disappointing Washington Nationals close out their home schedule with a three-game series against the Miami Marlins beginning Monday night.After dropping three of four to the fourth-place New York Mets over the weekend, third-place Washington (77-77) needs to go 4-2 this weekend to cap a seventh straight winning season.Miami right-hander Sandy Alcantara (2-1, 2.35) and right-hander Stephen Strasburg (9-7 Gerardo Parra Jersey , 3.83) square off in a rematch of a Sept. 18 pairing won by Strasburg and Washington, 4-2. Strasburg allowed two runs on five hits over six innings, while striking out 11 and walking two.Article continues below ...Over his last five starts, Strasburg is 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA and 38 strikeouts.“He’s been really good,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez told The Washington Post. “He’s pitching now. He’s mixing all of his pitches in and attacking the strike zone.”Strasburg is 17-7 with a 3.04 ERA in 30 career starts against Miami.Alcantara lasted just four innings against Washington, allowing three earned runs on six hits and six walks in absorbing his first loss of the season.“When we talk about young guys, this is what we see,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “We see good and then we see some ones that are not as good. Today, the command didn’t seem to be there. A lot of misses, counts get bad and a lot of pitches in a short period of time.“It’s something he’ll be able to learn from and you’ve got to continue to work and be consistent with what you do and that’s what separates the guys who are going to be really good and the guys who are going to be OK.”Miami finished the home portion of its schedule with a 6-0 win over the Reds Sunday http://www.rockiesfanproshop.com/authentic-todd-helton-jersey , taking three of four in the weekend series. At 62-93 with one game unlikely to be made up, the Marlins should avoid 100 losses but also won’t approach their 77 wins of a year ago.“No matter what, we knew what we were kind of embarking on this year, with a lot of the changes,” Mattingly told mlb.com. “The new direction of the club, under the new ownership. You understand all that. Still, the losses add up, and those are hard to deal with.“But I’ve been proud of the guys. I’ve felt they’ve continued to play hard and continued to give you the effort, and that’s not easy to do when you’re taking that many losses on the chin.”Washington is also playing out the string after being eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday. They lost 8-6 to the Mets in Sunday’s finale.Twenty-five-year-old rookie Erick Fedde, the team’s first-round pick in the 2014 draft Nolan Arenado Jersey , is among those bidding for a 2019 starting rotation spot. Against the Mets Sunday, he lasted only 3 1/3 innings, giving up three runs in a no-decision.In nine starts this season, Fedde has yet to go beyond six innings.“There are times when I’m like: ‘I can pitch at this level, I can be successful and I think I can dominate,'” he told MASN.com. “And then there are times that are like: ‘What are you doing out there?’ But I think that comes with the learning curve, and I just need to make sure that isn’t a very long learning curve.”