WASHINGTON -- Juan Lagares was ready to contribute when given the opportunity. "I know I can play. Thats what I do. Thats what Im here for," Lagares said after driving in three runs with a homer and a single and robbing Washingtons Jayson Werth of a home run in New Yorks 5-2 win on Saturday. Lagares came in 5 for 27 in his past 11 games, but he provided a jolt for the struggling Mets. He singled in a run during a three-run first and homered with one on and one out in the third to give New York a 5-0 lead. Hes batting .304 for the season. "Well, hell play tomorrow," Mets manager Terry Collins said to laughter following the game. "He had a good game. Thats great. Thats why we put him in there today," Collins added. "Gios not easy to hit, but hes got a (better) chance to have some success against lefties than he has been against righties, so I let him in there." The Mets outfielder took a homer away from Werth with a leaping catch against the wall in centre. "Im not surprised by anything he does defensively, not a thing," said Collins, who also praised Lagares for his offensive work this week with assistant hitting coach Luis Natera. "I try to be positive, try to do my work in the cage and try to be ready for the opportunity," Lagares said. "Thats the key, be positive and keep working." Bartolo Colon (3-5) allowed two runs and five hits over eight innings as New York snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in 10 tries against Washington. Rookie Eric Campbell drove in two runs and had his first two-hit game, and Daniel Murphy added two hits as well for New York. Colon, who turns 41 next week, came in 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA (17 runs in 17 1-3 innings) in three starts this month -- all on the road. On Saturday, he retired the last 11 hitters he faced. "He made big pitches, he pitched ahead," Collins said. "You know, you looked up and you saw he had 70 pitches, you kind of figured hes on his game." Jenrry Mejia pitched the ninth for his first career save. Ian Desmond had two hits, including a two-run homer, for Washington. Gio Gonzalez (3-4) took the loss, suffering his second straight poor start. Coming off a 9-1 loss at Oakland in which he allowed seven earned runs in five plus innings, he lasted just three innings Saturday. "Arm slot wasnt where I wanted it to be. Up in the strike zone the entire time, falling behind on everyone. You can see it just wasnt a good game at all," Gonzalez said after allowing five earned runs and seven hits. The Mets scored one more run in the first inning Saturday than they had in the previous 27 combined. With one out, Murphy lined a single to centre and David Wright followed with an infield hit between first base and the mound. After Chris Young walked, Campbell sent a single to centre to score Murphy and Wright. Lagares, in the starting lineup for the first time since Tuesday, blooped a single to right, scoring Young with the third run. It marked the 10th time this season that Washington had allowed three or more runs in the first inning. In the third, Campbell singled with one out and Lagares drove a 3-2 fastball into centre. Desmonds homer in the fourth pulled the Nationals within 5-2. Werths leaping catch at the wall with two outs in the ninth preserved Friday nights 5-2 Washington win. He was the victim on Saturday, however, when he appeared to pull the Nationals within 5-3 with a drive to centre to open the sixth, but Lagares raced to the wall, leaped and reached back to grab the drive. "I know he hit it good," Lagares said. "I just go like I always go, hard, and try to make the catch." NOTES: Craig Stammen pitched four innings of scoreless relief for the Nationals. ... Murphy has hit in nine straight (13 for 36) and in 34 of the 40 games hes played. ... Nationals 1B Adam LaRoche tested his strained right quad Friday and said he hopes to be ready to return when hes eligible to come off the disabled list May 25. ... New Yorks Zack Wheeler (1-3, 4.53) opposes Jordan Zimmermann (2-1, 3.59) in Sundays series finale. Koda Glover Nationals Jersey . -- C.J. Cron hit an RBI single on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues, doubled his second time up and hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the sixth inning to lead the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday night. Roenis Elias Jersey . LOUIS -- To stay a step ahead of goaltenders, T. https://www.cheapnationals.com/497r-asdr...-nationals.html. DeGrom outpitched Jake Peavy in a tantalizing hitless duel that carried into the seventh inning Saturday night before the New York Mets broke loose and beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2. Trea Turner Nationals Jersey . The Redblacks are taking on the Edmonton Eskimos in their second regular season game Friday night. Catch the game live on TSN as the back end of a doubleheader starting at 10pm et/7pm pt. Koda Glover Jersey . Sources tell TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger that the team is quietly gauging interest on the Senators captain, though Spezza has a limited no-trade clause and carries a large contract. MIAMI -- Turns out, the Miami Heat can beat the Brooklyn Nets. And rest hardly led to rust for the two-time defending NBA champions. LeBron James scored 22 points, Ray Allen added 19 and the Heat stayed perfect in this post-season by beating the Nets 107-86 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series. It was the first win for Miami in five meetings with Brooklyn this season. "Its one," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But I liked the energy, the activity." Chris Bosh scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Dwyane Wade finished with 14 points and Mario Chalmers had 12 for Miami, which recorded at least one regular-season win against every team except Brooklyn, losing four times by a total of 12 points. This one was a different story. A 24-9 run in the third quarter blew things open for the Heat, who hadnt played in eight days after sweeping Charlotte in the opening round. "It was great that we were able to come out the way we did after being off eight days," James said. "We got a lot of work in. We had eight days off of not playing a basketball game but Spo got us in the gym. (We) got each other in the gym. We made each other accountable throughout the layoff and it proved tonight." Deron Williams and Joe Johnson scored 17 points each for the Nets, who got only eight from Paul Pierce and no points from Kevin Garnett in 16 minutes. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night. "This is the defending champs," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "Its always going to be at a high level and weve got to find a way to match it." James finished 10 for 15 from the field and Allen -- who had never faced his former Boston "Big 3" compatriots Pierce and Garnett in the playoffs -- was 4 of 7 from 3-point land. "He was focused on the job at hand," James said. Miamis lead was 55-52 early in the third quarter after a 3-pointer by Williams, and every indication was that the Heat and Nets -- who played three one-point games and a double-overtime affair in the regular season -- were heading down to the wire again. Not quite. The Heat took off on the 24-9 run over a 7-minute span, with Bosh scoring the first seven points of that burst to get Miami going. Allens 3-pointer pushed the lead to 14, James and Chris Andersen (who left in the fourth with a riight knee contusion) added two free throws apiece and just like that Miamis lead was up to 79-61.dddddddddddd "Its fun when you win the game and you can at least for a night do whatever it is you do, have some dinner, chill at home and exhale a little bit," Bosh said. "When you lose, you cant sleep, your stomach hurts and its not a very good situation." For Brooklyn, the trouble came at an unexpected time. The Nets had the best third-quarter scoring differential in the East after Jan. 1, but were outscored 33-23 in that pivotal quarter in Game 1. It was a hectic news day long before Heat-Nets, with Oklahoma Citys Kevin Durant being announced as the leagues MVP, the firing of Golden State coach Mark Jackson and the NBA saying that Los Angeles Clippers president Andy Roeser would be taking an indefinite leave as part of the fallout related to the Donald Sterling scandal. James two-year reign as MVP lasted 198 games. "We have a new MVP, but when you talk about the best players in the world, hes 1A, 1B with Durant," Kidd said. Pregame lineup moves by both clubs lent more intrigue. Miami brought Shane Battier -- who played 2 minutes, total, in the first round against Charlotte -- back into the starting five, while Brooklyn reinserted Shaun Livingston into its lineup after using him off the bench late in the Toronto series. After never leading by more than seven points against Brooklyn in the regular season, the Heat led by 11 after a drive by James with 3:32 left in the first half. But the Nets closed on a 14-6 run, and Williams first beat-the-clock 3-pointer of the game sent Brooklyn into halftime down 46-43. Williams did it again in the third, but that one only got Brooklyn within 79-66. "It came down to defence tonight," Williams said. "Our defensive game plan was not executed at all." NOTES: The Heat held a pregame moment of silence for Hall of Famer Jack Ramsay, who died last week at the age of 89. ... David Beckham, who will be bringing an MLS team to Miami, sat next to the Heat bench. ... Livingston was on the court to warm up for the second half with about 10 minutes left in the intermission. Small problem: The rack of basketballs wasnt on the court yet. ... The Nets are 1-9 all-time against Miami in playoff games. ... Miami had not won consecutive Game 1s since the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the 2012 playoffs. ' ' '