Jose Lobaton delivered a sacrifice fly in the top of the 12th inning that gave the New York Mets a 5-4 victory over the Washington Nationals Thursday night at Nationals Park.

Amed Rosario started the 12th with a single and went to second on a Jeff McNeil sacrifice bunt against Jefry Rodriguez (3-3). The right-hander then intentionally walked Michael Conforto before walking Jay Bruce to load the bases with one out.

Lobaton then sent his fly ball to deep center, scoring Rosario and giving Jacob Rhame (1-2) the victory. Paul Sewald closed it for his second save.

Washington starter Max Scherzer broke the team's record for strikeouts in a season -- a mark that he set two years ago. The right-hander fanned 13 in seven innings and now has 290 strikeouts this year.

However, Scherzer gave up two homers and three runs and left trailing 3-2.

New York starter Jason Vargas outdueled Scherzer on this night. The veteran gave up two runs on three hits and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings.

Both starters finished with a no-decision.

Conforto started the scoring with his two-run homer in the third. Vargas also scored on the play as he had reached earlier in the inning thanks to a lead-off single against Scherzer.

The Conforto homer came with two outs, and Bruce followed with a solo blast that gave the Mets (71-82) a 3-0 lead.

Washington (77-76) couldn't answer until the sixth when Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer that cut the lead to 3-2. For Rendon, that was his 100th career homer.

In the eighth, McNeil tripled to start the inning against Matt Grace and later scored when Bruce got his second RBI of the night on a two-out single.

The Nationals tied it in the eighth. Rendon made it 4-3 with an RBI groundout, and Juan Soto added a game-tying RBI double.

New York manager Mickey Callaway got tossed in the top of the 10th after arguing on a strike call, and the Mets later wasted a bases-loaded with one out situation.

Pinch hitter Jack Reinheimer grounded into an inning-ending double play that kept the game tied.

Home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn ejected Callaway and also threw out Bryce Harper in the 12th.

--Field Level Media