With Mets braced for shakeup, Thole’s 10th-inning homer beats Nationals 2-1

With Mets braced for shakeup, NY beats Was 2-1

NEW YORK — With the New York Mets braced for a management shakeup, Josh Thole homered in the 10th inning Friday night to begin the final series of the season with a 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals.

Thole connected against Tyler Clippard (11-7), hitting a one-out drive into the right-field seats for New York’s fourth hit and first since the fourth inning.

Rookie Ike Davis homered in the fourth off Jordan Zimmermann as the Mets stopped a three-game losing streak. Michael Morse’s homer tied it in the seventh.

Hisanori Takahashi (10-6) pitched two hitless innings, combining with Pat Misch on a three-hitter. Washington hitters struck out 14 times.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel and general manager Omar Minaya both said they have not been notified they are losing their jobs following another season filled with injuries rather than accomplishments. Sports Illustrated, citing unidentified sources, reported on its website earlier in the day that the team will announce after the season that the pair won’t return in their roles.

“This is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately town, and lately it hasn’t been good,” David Wright said. “There’s going to be fingers pointed and, obviously, that’s where we’re at now.”

New York rested Wright, who pinch hit in the eighth and flied out.

Misch struck out a career-high 10 in eight innings, . His previous high was eight for San Francisco at San Diego on Aug. 4, 2007.

Zimmermann allowed three hits in six innings, struck out three and walked none, lowering his ERA to 4.94 in his seventh start following right elbow ligament replacement surgery.

Davis took a pitch down the middle and drove it into the Mets’ bullpen in right with one out in the fourth. With his 19th home run, he matched Ron Swoboda (1965) for the second-most by a rookie in Mets history, trailing only Darryl Strawberry’s 26 in 1983.

Morse tied it with one out in the seventh, hitting a drive to right-center for his 14th homer.

Citi Field was a tough park for power hitters in its first season, when just 130 homers were hit, 25th among the 30 major league stadiums. In this year of the pitcher, the power shortage has been even more pronounced. There have been 106 this season at the pitcher-friendly ballpark — only Seattle’s Safeco Field, with 96 entering Friday, had fewer.

Washington’s Adam Dunn struck out in the first and seventh innings, giving the free-agent-to-be a career-high 196, two more than he had in 2004 with Cincinnati.

NOTES: The game drew announced crowd of 29,424 (it appeared to be less than half that), leaving the Mets’ home attendance at 2,498,503 in the second season at Citi Field. Last year, they drew 3,154,262 at home. … Washington began the tied night with Pittsburgh for the major league lead in errors at 124, one more than the Chicago Cubs. Left fielder Justin Maxwell bobbled a first-inning single by Angel Pagan for No. 125, then dropped Mike Hessman’s seventh-inning fly for No. 126 when Nyjer Morgan ran into him.