Mets rally, back Capuano

Even in the midst of his offseason workouts, his batting cage routines and the hard lineouts that didn't reap any rewards, Carlos Beltran knew his time would come.

"I told him not to worry about me," he said, referring to manager Terry Collins. "Everything's going to be fine."

Beltran had his moment Saturday night, belting two home runs in the Mets' 8-4 victory over the Nationals in front of 31,696 at Citi Field. Ike Davis and Jose Reyes each drove in two runs for the Mets, who improved to 4-4, and Francisco Rodriguez recorded his first at-bat (a strikeout) and save of the season.

In the sixth inning, with the Mets trailing 4-3 and David Wright on first, Beltran crushed a towering drive to leftfield that former Yankee Jerry Hairston Jr. failed to get a glove on. He was charged with a two-base error and the Mets had runners on second and third. After Scott Hairston (Jerry's brother) struck out, Davis tripled to deep centerfield, driving in both runners.

"I don't ever really think triple," Davis joked. "But on the way to second I was like, 'Yeah, let's give it a try.' "

The Mets tacked on another run when pinch hitter Daniel Murphy singled off Brian Broderick to drive in Davis.

The Mets entered Saturday night just 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position in their two previous games.

"It was just a matter of time [before] we would get runs," said Beltran, who also scored three times. Collins said he will sit the rightfielder for Sunday's series finale.

Lefthander Chris Capuano (four earned runs, seven hits and a walk in six innings, with eight strikeouts) got the win and snapped a streak of three straight outings of five innings or less by Mets starters.

Though he gave the Mets the length they needed, he also gave up two home runs that helped dig an early hole. Danny Espinosa hit his first career home run -- a three-run blast -- off Capuano in the second inning to put the Nationals ahead 3-2.

Capuano escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third. With one out, he walked Jason Werth, gave up a single to Ryan Zimmerman and hit Michael Morse on the left knee. But he got Wilson Ramos to look at strike three and Reyes skillfully tracked down a pop-up by Rick Ankiel.

Collins said Capuano's ability to work out of trouble "might have been the turning point of the game."

Said Capuano, "It helps your confidence when you work through jams like that early in the year. It's big when you can get through them."

Things got hairy in the eighth, though, when reliever Bobby Parnell entered the game, gave up a single to Morse and walked Ramos. But Parnell struck out Ankiel and Espinosa and Rodriguez got pinch hitter Matt Stairs to ground out to end the inning.

Rodriguez didn't help matters when he walked his first two batters in the ninth. But he got Werth to ground into a double play and struck out Zimmerman to end the game.

"It's been a while since I got a save, and that's what I've been working so hard all winter for," Rodriguez said. "To be able to get the first save out of the way and now stay healthy and get many, many more."