WASHINGTON -- Taijuan Walker stood astride Juan Soto after tagging him out during a collision at third base that the Washington Nationals slugger felt was more violent than it needed to be.
Walker and the New York Mets are punishing the NL East.
Walker pitched seven innings of no-fuss, scoreless ball, and the Mets remained unbeaten in 10 series this season, cruising past the sloppy Nationals 4-1 on Thursday.
The burly right-hander tagged Soto at third after the Nationals' best hitter made an elementary baserunning gaffe, getting himself into a rundown after Josh Bell hit a grounder to the left side. Soto slid into Walker's forearm a few feet in front of the bag and argued for an obstruction call, but Walker already had the ball when Soto got there.
"It was unexpected. I got a little mad because it was a rundown and I didn't think he was going to slide into me," Walker said. "Smart play, I guess, the guy was going to second, but in the moment I wasn't too happy about it."
After tagging Soto, Walker threw wildly to second base, and right fielder Starling Marte threw back to third to nail Bell and end the Nationals' best chance to rally.
"Things like that, when we're behind like that, those are not good baserunning decisions," Washington Manager Dave Martinez said. "We need to make better decisions."
Mark Canha went 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBI for the first-place Mets, who took two of three from the last-place Nationals. New York has won nine series and split one, and hasn't lost two consecutive games in a month.
"We have a hitter of the day. We give the award out when we come in," Canha said. "Today it was me, and then, what's cool about this team is, I feel like, I'm pretty sure all our hitters have won the award at some point this year. ... Someone always is the hero, and that's been the coolest part of this year."
Walker (1-0) allowed three hits, walked one and threw 85 pitches in the longest of his four starts this season, which was interrupted by a stint on the injured list with right shoulder bursitis.
Soto said he was at fault on the rundown play, which came after he opened the fourth inning with a double off the wall in right-center.
"I was just caught in the middle of nothing," he said. "I tried to slide. I didn't try to hurt him or anything like that. He's got to give me room to at least slide on the base."
REDS 4, PIRATES 0 Connor Overton (1-0) got his first major league win and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter for as Cincinnati defeated Pittsburgh.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ATHLETICS 5, TIGERS 3 Oakland's Seth Brown hit a tiebreaking, two-run home run in the eighth off Michael Fulmer (1-2) following Jed Lowrie's walk, sending Detroit to its ninth loss in 10 games.
ASTROS 11-5, TWINS 3-0 Luis Garcia (3-1) and three relievers combined on a seven-hitter, Yordan Alvarez homered twice and Jeremy Pena capped a big day with three hits as Houston extended its winning streak to 10 games and completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota. Before the regularly scheduled game, the teams completed a game suspended after three innings on Wednesday night due to severe weather. Jose Altuve homered, doubled and drove in three runs.
RANGERS 3, ROYALS 1 Taylor Hearn (2-2) allowed only one hit in five scoreless innings, Brad Miller homered and Texas defeated Kansas City.
YANKEES 15, WHITE SOX 7 Giancarlo Stanton homered twice and drove in six runs, and New York used a seven-run eighth inning to beat Chicago for its fourth consecutive victory.
INTERLEAGUE
ORIOLES 3, CARDINALS 2 Rylan Bannon became just the third Baltimore player since 2000 to get a hit on the first pitch of his big league career, Jorge Mateo and Anthony Bemboom homered off Steven Matz (3-3) as the Orioles defeated St. Louis.
Thursday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NY Mets 4, Washington 1
Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 0
Philadelphia at LA Dodgers, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Oakland 5, Detroit 3
Houston 11-5, Minnesota 3-0
Texas 3, Kansas City 1
NY Yankees 15, Chicago White Sox 7
INTERLEAGUE
Baltimore 3, St. Louis 2