Francisco Lindor just delivered a walk-off single to right field, bringing pinch-runner Cristian Pache home and sealing a wild 5-4 comeback win for the Mets over the Washington Nationals on Saturday. You’d think a moment like that would spark something incredible, but for a Mets team buried at 55-69 in mid-August, it feels like a bittersweet jolt to a season everyone had already written off.
The Ninth Inning Was Absolutely Bonkers
Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets clawed their way back in dramatic fashion. Brett Baty kicked things off, drawing a leadoff walk on five pitches from Nationals reliever Yovanny Cruz. Jorge Polanco followed with a single on a hanging slider, and Pache sprinted onto the field to pinch-run for him. Then, Francisco Alvarez stepped up and absolutely clobbered another slider that Cruz left right in the middle of the zone, sending it for a double and tying the game at 4-4 as Baty raced home. Cruz somehow recovered to strike out A.J. Ewing after falling behind 3-0, getting his slider to dart lower in the zone. But with Dylan Crews playing shallow, hoping to throw out Pache at home, Lindor lifted a low slider just over the right fielder’s head to score the game-winning run. Talk about some clutch hitting when it mattered most!
Earlier in the game, Jared Young’s bases-loaded single in the first gave the Mets a quick 2-0 lead against Washington opener Brad Lord. The Nationals fought back with Andrés Chaparro’s solo homer in the fourth and Brady House’s three-run shot in the sixth, taking a 4-2 lead. Carson Benge hit a home run to cut the deficit to 4-3, setting the stage for that wild ninth-inning comeback.
A Winning Streak That Means Absolutely Nothing
Here’s the kicker: this win marks the Mets’ eighth victory in their last 11 games since the August 3rd MLB trade deadline. The front office dealt away eight players, essentially erasing all expectations for this “lost season.” They’re actually playing some decent ball right now! But even with this recent success, the Mets are still buried in last place in the NL East at 55-69. They’re a staggering 19 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves and 4.5 games back from the Nationals for fourth place. It’s far too late in the season for them to make any real moves in the NL East or wild-card standings. This late surge is all about pride, nothing more.
Meanwhile, the Nationals aren’t looking so hot either. They’ve dropped four of their past five games after a sweet three-game sweep over the Cincinnati Reds. That slide has Washington at 60-65, and they are six games back from the NL’s third wild-card playoff spot with six other teams ahead of them in the standings. Both teams are fighting uphill battles, but one of them is running out of mountain. The Mets might be winning, but this is a squad fighting for pride more than anything, still light years from the top. For the Nationals, losing four of their last five isn’t helping their long shot wild card hopes either. They desperately need to turn it around starting tomorrow.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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