WASHINGTON _ A 7-6 loss Thursday to the Nationals wasn't even the worst news of the day for the Mets.
Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil, the Mets' two most productive and well-rounded hitters this season, both sustained apparent injuries.
McNeil left in the third inning with what the team called abdominal tightness. It's not clear when the issue arose.
Conforto exited in the fifth inning after colliding with second baseman Robinson Cano on Howie Kendrick's bloop to left. Cano and Conforto clipped each other, and Conforto dropped like dead weight, laying motionless on the grass for a moment. Manager Mickey Callaway said after the game that Conforto had been diagnosed with a concussion and was headed back to New York via train for further evaluation.
The Mets' ninth-inning rally fell short when Keon Broxton, batting in place of Conforto the cleanup hitter, struck out swinging with the bases loaded.
With the loss _ of the game, not two of their best players _ the Mets dropped to 20-22. They have four series wins all season: two against the Marlins, who they visit this weekend, and two against everybody else.
Most of the Mets' runs came in the third, when Cano had an RBI double and Conforto smacked a three-run homer to right. They had just two hits _ both soft singles _ up until the ninth inning, when they scored two runs on four hits and a walk.
Zack Wheeler alternated good innings with bad ones, which turned out to be a bad formula. He allowed six runs and 11 hits but managed to finish six innings, a bit of a surprise after he needed 31 pitches in the first frame.
The Nationals jumped out to a four-run lead in that opening inning. The first pair scored on three soft singles, a walk and a double play. The second pair scored on consecutive hard-hit doubles by Gerardo Parra and Kurt Suzuki, bottom-of-the-order hitters who combined to go 6 for 7 with five RBIs and three runs scored.
Parra added a two-run homer in the fifth to put the Nationals back ahead. He finished a triple short of a cycle.
