Ryan Zimmerman becomes Nationals all-time hits leader with 1,695th career hit in blowout win

The bats were on fire tonight at Nationals Park as Washington utterly demolished the hapless New York Mets in a record-setting 25-4 victory. Yes, you read that right. TWENTY-FIVE TO FOUR. The 25 runs scored were the most by the Nationals in a game in team history, and (according to the MLB Stat of the Day Twitter account) the most runs scored in a game since the Texas Rangers hung 30 on the Baltimore Orioles back in August of 2007.

In the victory, Virginia baseball alum Ryan Zimmerman achieved a personal and team milestone of his own, becoming the all-time hits leader in Nationals and Expos history with 1,695.

His record-setting hit came in the first inning on an RBI second that squirted through the infield after deflecting off of Mets first baseman Wilmer Flores’s glove. Zim’s hit gave the Nationals a two-run lead and was the third hit of Washington’s 26 hits in the game.

Zimmerman struck out in his next two at bats, but smacked a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Nats up 16-0 and give him his 1,696th career hit. He finished 2-for-5 with three RBI, one walk, and one hit by pitch.

That hit by pitch is when things got a little, umm, feisty(?) in the bottom of the eighth inning in Zimmerman’s seventh at-bat. Down 25-1, the Mets went to Jose Reyes—normally a short stop—on the mound. He delivered a 54 mph curve that made contact with Zimmerman’s upper thigh. In a moment of light-hearted fun in a blowout, Zim pretended as if he would charge the mound at Reyes.

Both parties laughed it off as Zimmerman took his place at first base.

Fellow Wahoo Mark Reynolds also got in on the action, pinch hitting and going one-for-one with an RBI in the game.

Huge congratulations to Ryan Zimmerman, or as he’s known now, Mr. National.