The Washington Nationals (9-14) wrap up a 3-game series against the New York Mets (14-11) on Thursday at Citi Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET.

Season series: Nationals lead 2-0

The Nationals defeated the Mets 4-1 on Wednesday to give them 2 straight wins to begin the series. Washington has won 4 of its last 5 contests.

The bats of the Mets continued to struggle Wednesday mustering up just 4 hits. New York has now lost 4 straight games.

Nationals at Mets projected starters

RHP Trevor Williams vs. LHP Joey Lucchesi

Williams (1-1 3.38 ERA) makes his 5th start. He has a 1.08 WHIP 1.7 BB/9 and 5.5 K/9 through 21 1/3 IP.

• Has allowed 2 or more ER in 3 of his first 4 starts
• Credited with a win in only 3 of his last 13 starts dating back to last season

Lucchesi (1-0 0.00 ERA) makes his 2nd start. He has a 0.86 WHIP 2.6 BB/9 and 11.6 K/9 through 7 IP.

• Tossed 7 scoreless IP with 4 H and 2 BB with 9 K at the San Francisco Giants Friday his first start since 2021
• Hasn’t allowed more than 1 ER in a start since May 3 2021 although that’s a span of just 7 starts due to injury

Nationals at Mets odds

• Moneyline (ML): Nationals +195 (bet $100 to win $195) | Mets -250 (bet $250 to win $100)
• Run line (RL)/Against the spread (ATS): Nationals +1.5 (+100) | Mets -1.5 (-120)
• Over/Under (O/U): 8.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)

Nationals at Mets picks and predictions

Prediction

Mets 6 Nationals 3

Moneyline

PASS.

The Mets (-250) are expected to secure the victory on Thursday but wagering on them isn’t advised as the risk isn’t worth the reward with the odds being well over -200.

Run line/Against the spread

METS -1.5 (-120) is the pick in this contest as it is hard to expect New York to get swept by Washington at home. While the Mets have struggled to generate runs in this series thus far Williams is allowing a career-worst 13.2% barrel percentage this season.

Over/Under

OVER 8.5 (-105) is the lean in this NL East matchup as the Nationals have scored 4-plus runs in each of the first 2 games of the series. Meanwhile I expect the Mets to finally score a decent number of runs to finish out the series.