It's been an up-and-down week for the New York Mets that has included solid pitching and a four-game win streak, the loss of a big bat in the middle of their lineup and one of their aces being booed off the field in an ugly loss to a division rival.

That matchup against Stephen Strasburg was the worst night of Matt Harvey's career, but the Mets are sticking with him and he'll again oppose Strasburg on Tuesday night in the middle game of this series against the Washington Nationals.

Harvey (3-6, 5.77 ERA) won the NL's Comeback Player award in 2015 by going 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA in his return from Tommy John surgery, but after helping the Mets (26-18) make a run to the World Series, his struggles in 2016 have been hard to explain.

The results have been mixed for Harvey, who has posted three quality starts but has also been very shaky at times, particularly in his previous outing. The right-hander lasted a career-low 2 2/3 innings and allowed a career-high nine runs - six earned - and eight hits in a 9-1 loss to the Nationals (27-18) on Thursday.

New York considered skipping Harvey's next turn, but after a meeting with the pitcher, manager Terry Collins believes he can work through his issues.

"We got as in-depth as you possibly can get. We dissected every angle there was," Collins said. "And in the end, knowing this guy like we do, he wants to pitch. He wants to fight through it. He isn't going to run and hide. He wants to get out there."

The rest of the rotation has since picked things up after the series loss to the Nationals gave the Mets six defeats in seven games. Steven Matz, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard combined for 19 innings with six earned runs allowed in a three-game sweep of Milwaukee over the weekend before Bartolo Colon was solid in Monday's series opener.

Colon allowed one run in seven innings in the 7-1 victory, giving New York's starters a 2.42 ERA during the streak after a 7.68 mark over the previous seven games.

While Harvey appears to be struggling with his confidence, Strasburg (7-0, 2.80) is having no such problem. He tossed six innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts on Thursday - his fourth outing this year with at least 10 Ks and second in three starts.

He'll now try to keep the Mets from taking over first place in the NL East after they pulled within a half-game of Washington with Monday's win.

"It's May, there's a lot of baseball to be played," said Strasburg, who will try to join Chicago aces Chris Sale and Jake Arrieta in opening the season 8-0.

He's had his way with several prominent bats in New York's lineup. Curtis Granderson is 3 for 16 with five strikeouts, Neil Walker is 5 for 14 with four Ks and David Wright is 7 for 25 while fanning 10 times against the right-hander.

Strasburg won't have to face Lucas Duda after the Mets lost their first baseman for four to six weeks because of a stress fracture in his lower back. It probably wouldn't have mattered much since Duda is 2 for 15 with six strikeouts in their matchups.

It's a significant blow for the Mets to lose Duda, who hit 27 homers last season and 30 in 2014. He's hitting .231 with seven homers and 19 RBIs this season.

"It's a very difficult task to replace Duda," Yoenis Cespedes said through a translator after hitting his major league-leading 15th home run Monday. "I think we're all aware, for the rest of us that are here, that we really have to step up."