Justin Verlander earned his 250th career victory as the New York Mets beat the Washington Nationals 5-2 on Sunday after trading Max Scherzer to Texas.

Francisco Lindor homered and had three hits for the fourth-place Mets (50-55), who took three of four from last-place Washington. Pete Alonso drove in two runs.

Verlander (6-5) allowed one run in 6 innings to become the 49th major league pitcher to reach 250 wins.

Alonso had an RBI single and lifted one of New York’s two sacrifice flies in a three-run third against former teammate Trevor Williams (5-6).

Lindor homered in consecutive games for the fourth time this year. He reached base four times. Jeff McNeil hit a go-ahead triple and Omar Narváez also had a sacrifice fly in the third.

Making his 498th career start, Verlander gave up five hits in his third straight win. He walked off the mound to a nice ovation and tipped his cap to the crowd of 33,861 before accepting handshakes from teammates in the dugout.

The Mets signed Verlander to an $86.7 million, two-year contract in December shortly after Jacob deGrom signed a $185 million, five-year deal with Texas. That reunited Verlander and Scherzer, a pair of three-time Cy Young Award winners who were teammates in Detroit from 2010-14.

Lionel Messi arrived at Inter Miami with the promise of big moments. He produced a magical one for his debut Friday night.

Messi’s dazzling last-ditch, free-kick goal provided a dramatic winner, giving Inter Miami a 2-1 Leagues Cup victory over Mexican league side Cruz Azul.

And his winner inspired an immortal moment when, after he was mobbed by teammates, Messi exhorted the sellout crowd at DRV PNK Stadium into a frenzy, and ran over to his family in the stands for an emotional embrace.

“What I saw was the goal. I saw the goal, I knew that I had to score,” Messi said. “It was the last play of the game and I wanted to score so we didn’t go to penalties. So it was very important for us to get this win. Because it’s a new tournament, this is going to give us confidence moving forward.”

That, in short, is exactly what MLS had in mind in bringing in Messi.

After three brutal starts to begin his Yankees career, going 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA, Carlos Rodon, the $162 million left-hander set out on Wednesday to do better.

Rodon accomplished his goal and finally giving the Yankees the kind of start he craved on the way to a 3-1 win over the Mets in The Bronx.

In his first start since being booed by Yankees fans in Anaheim last week, Rodon walked off the mound after 6 innings of one-run ball to an ovation from the sellout crowd of 46,761.

Rodon out-pitched another left-hander whose season was delayed by injury, the Mets’ Jose Quintana, to secure a split of the Subway Series in this two-game set and the overall four-game season series.

The Yankees (54-48) manufactured just enough offense to make sure Rodon’s improved outing was not all for naught. Harrison Bader went 3-for-4 with two runs, helping to ensure the Yankees remained 2 games back of the Blue Jays for the final playoff spot.

“A really big outing for Rodon and for us,” manager Aaron Boone said.

The Mets (47-54) fell for the fourth time in their last six games.