Mets Comeback Falls Short, Lose to Nationals

The Mets staged a furious ninth inning rally in an attempt to pull out Wednesday night’s game with the Nationals. But it fell short and they lost to the Nats again.

The Nationals were able to get their first two batters on base in both the third and fourth innings but Bartolo Colon was able to get out of both jams.

The game was scoreless until the fourth. With Lucas Duda on first with two outs, Travis d’Arnaud lofted a routine fly ball to left. Kevin Frandsen, who is primarily an infielder, botched the play, the ball hitting the heel of his glove. A jogging Duda turned it on and scored to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

Colon could not get out of a jam in the seventh, though. Adam LaRoche led off with a double. Ian Desmond followed with a single. LaRoche was held at third, but Juan Lagares’s throw back to the infield was high and got past the cutoff man, allowing Desmond to move to second on the throwing error, which would prove costly. Harper hit a sacrifice fly to right to plate LaRoche to tie the game at one. Wilson Ramos singled to put runners on first and third. Frandsen made up for his error with a sacrifice fly to give the Nationals a 2-1 lead.

More shoddy defense in the bottom of the seventh. Duda led off with a grounder that went through LaRoche’s legs for an error. With one out Matt den Dekker followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Lagares was next, and during his at bat, Ramos threw to first in a pick-off attempt. One problem — LaRoche was out of position and the ball went into right field. The runners advanced to second and third. Lagares was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That was all for Jordan Zimmerman, giving way to Drew Storen. Wilmer Flores hit a slow roller to third on Storen’s first pitch. The Nats got the force at home for the second out. With the bases still loaded, Kirk Nieuwenhuis pinch hit for Colon. He struck out and the Mets failed to score despite the Nationals practically begging them to.

So Colon went seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits. He struck out eight and walked one.

Asdrubal Cabrera added an insurance run with a solo home run in the eighth to make it a 3-1 game.

It turned out to be huge because d’Arnaud led off the ninth with a solo home run to cut the lead to 3-2. den Dekker followed with a single up the middle. Lagares was then idiotically asked to sacrifice. Instead he popped it up to the pitcher for the first out. Flores singled to right and den Dekker was able to make it to third. Eric Young ran for Flores. Pinch hitter Eric Campbell was next. Young stole second on the first pitch. With the infield in, Campbell hit a grounder to short. den Dekker was thrown out at the plate for the second out (the play was reviewed to see if Ramos was blocking the plate. He was not.). Curtis Granderson hit a comebacker to end the game.

Mets lose 3-2. They try to salvage the final game of the series Thursday night.