The New York Mets found a new way to lose against Washington today as they stranded Soto at second in a one-run game.
The New York Mets continue to find ways to lose, with the latest coming today against the Washington Nationals, as the Nats rallied late to win a 5-4 game and take two of three from the Mets. The Mets are playing bad baseball, plus they’re star-crossed, and that’s a hard combination to overcome.
New York lost a chance to score first right out of the gate on a remarkable play by right fielder James Woods, who robbed Juan Soto of a home run by snatching a moon-shot fly ball that was a foot over the wall when he caught it.
Peralta was his own worst enemy in the second inning as he committed an error that led to two runs scoring. The fatal play was a comebacker by Nasim Nunez, and the speedy Jorbit Vivas ended up scoring from first on the play after singling off Peralta as the pitcher missed the bag by a wide margin. Jacob Young completed the sequence with an RBI single to score Nunez, and just like that the Mets were down 2-0.
The next run Peralta gave up was a hard-luck affair that started with a hard-hit double by Luis Garcia Jr. The hard luck came when CJ Abrams dumped a broken-bat single into left to make it 3-0, Washington.
The Mets finally got untracked with a two-out rally in the third that began with a walk by Bo Bichette. Soto singled to left center, and MJ Melendez sent a high fastball out to right to tie the game at 3-3.
That score held until the sixth, when the Mets played small ball to take the lead. Juan Soto started the rally with a walk, and Melendez turned from home-run hero to bunter as he sacrificed Soto to second. Mark Vientos picked up Soto with an RBI double, which put Peralta in position to get the win.
But the Nats took that away in the eighth off Luke Weaver, as Abrams continued to have a day with a two-run homer that drove in Daylen Lyle after Lyle reached on a force out.
Soto struck again in the eighth with a shot to center field that missed being a homer by about a foot as he wound up on second with a wall double. But the Mets went down in order and stranded him, which was more characteristic of the situational hitting they haven’t been doing lately.
The Mets have lost 57 straight games when they go into the ninth trailing in a streak that dates back to 2024, and they didn’t do anything to change that in this one. Francisco Alvarez gave the Mets a shot with a pinch double to left, but Ronny Mauricio struck out swinging to end the game as the Mets lost for their 17th time in the last 20 games. Weaver took the loss, with Mitch Parker getting the win and Gus Garland finishing up for his third save.
The Mets now hit the road to Anaheim for a weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels, who have lost 10 of 11, but right now it almost doesn’t matter who the Mets play.