Kurt Suzuki and the Washington Nationals Blow Up the Mets

With a record of 174-0, no team had lost a game this season while leading by 6 or more entering the 9th inning. Not anymore. Washington Nationals, meet the Mets.

Before the 7-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth inning on Tuesday night, the Washington Nationals looked bad against the New York Mets. In that way, this game was not unique. In other ways, well, just give me a minute to explain.

By the time Kurt Suzuki launched a 100 mph fastball from Edwin Diaz into the left field bleachers, walking off the Mets and completing an 11-10 comeback victory (in a game started by Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, no less), this was already one of the greatest games of the season. Perhaps of the last few years.

But before that bottom of the ninth inning, the Nats were all thumbs. Against the Mets. Again. 

Heartbreaker after heartbreaker, the Mets have crushed the Nats this season. Separate from their head-to-heads, the Mets have been the audacious degenerates of the two. The Mets have  hubristic and hapless. The Mets have been, well, the Mets.

But not against the Nationals. Against these Nationals, the Mets turn into – and I know this is a low blow – the Yankees.

It was becoming comical. At one point this season, the Nationals lost 5 games in a row to the Mets in which New York took the lead in their final at-bat. That’s a pretty shocking level of late-game incompetence, even for these Nationals, whose pen has limped along all year, with more than once reconstructive surgery along the way.

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Tonight it was much of the same. Max Scherzer put up a dud, capped by newest-Nat-killer Joe Panik hitting a two-run homer into the bleachers in right to put the Mets up 4-1 as their own ace Jacob deGrom cruised through seven.

Dave Martinez made dopey moves (again) in his management of the bullpen. Since 2017, right-handers are hitting .198 against Roenis Elias, while left-handers are All-Stars: .320 BAA. The Nats are notoriously slow to recognize reverse splits, but these are egregious. Sure enough, the first batter Elias faced, a lefty, homered to put the Mets up by 3.

Juan Soto got some back with a 2-run homer of his own in the bottom half of the inning, which only made the run in the top half all the more painful because it meant the Mets still led by 1. (How cute, a 1-run lead.)

But Davey didn’t stop there. He left Elias in to start the top of the ninth, presumably because he wanted Elias facing lefty Brandon Nimmo. How’d that go? Say it with me: home run.

Even as the Mets prepared to send the game to the bottom of the ninth, the Nats wouldn’t let them leave. Suzuki and Matt Adams almost collided in dropping a catchable pop foul. Daniel Hudson incurred the double play ball they needed, only for Trea Turner to throw the runner out at first thinking there was already two outs. There were not.

Given the extra out, Jeff McNeil did what Jeff McNeil does, slashing a two-run single into left. To make sure Turner’s heart hurt, just, the very most, Pete Alonso followed with a two-run home run.

The Nats should have been in the dugout preparing to mount a 2-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth – but by the time they finally got off their feet and into the home dugout, the Nats were suddenly down by 6.

But these Nationals are a righteous group. They follow the golden rule: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Since the Nationals have been “done unto” late in games by the Mets all year, it was only right to do the same unto them.

Robles singled. Turner doubled. Rendon singled. Soto singled. As it says on their batting practice t-shirts, these Washington Nationals #stay in the fight.

Just back from injury, Mr. National himself Ryan Zimmerman roped a pinch-hit double off the scoreboard in right. Standing on second base, he was the unliekly tying run.

That’s when Kurt Suzuki finished off an 8-pitch at-bat by taking a 100 mph fastball from Edwin Diaz and doing this:

It was the fastest pitch Washington had homered off of since May. It was just the third time all season a Washington National homered of a triple-digit offering. The timing was impeccable.

The Nationals played a bad brand of baseball for most of this ballgame, but credit the Mets for outdoing them once again.

Since May 24, the Nats have been the best team in baseball. They’ve won roughly 68% of their games – a rate of which would churn out 110 wins over a full season.

But the Mets held the leash until Tuesday, winning 11 of their 17 meetups on the year. The Nationals were the tough guy, and the Mets the comely nerd capable of bringing out their soft side.

It was different verse, same as the first for  8+ innings as the Mets played like big brother to their bumbling counterparts. But nobody plays the part of artless stooge like the Mets.

The Nationals have tried of late, but they keep winning regardless. They can’t help it.

They gave away lead after lead to the Marlins in the opener of the series prior, but after blowing a 9th-inning lead in that game, Rendon leapfrogged Ryne Stanek and the Marlins with a  two-run walkoff single.

The Nationals need to sharpen up if they’re going to make a postseason run. Davey should study his split sheets. Somebody should help Turner keep track of the outs. October baseball won’t be so lenient. After all, they probably won’t get to play the Mets in the playoffs. Not after tonight. The Mets now trail the Nationals by 8.5 games.

And that’s not even the most depressing the number the Mets are facing after this game. Prior to Tuesday, teams leading by 6 runs or more entering the ninth inning were 124-0. These Mets march to the beat of their own drummer. They’re the 1 in 124-1.

What’s worse, in the history of their franchise, the Nationals had been 0-775 when trailing by at least six runs entering the ninth inning.

Here’s the kicker: In the history of the  Metropolitans franchise since their inaugural campaign in 1962, when they entered the ninth inning with a lead of at least six runs as they did Tuesday, the Mets had 806 wins and 0 losses. 806-0! 

The rubber game of the series between these two clubs is Wednesday. It’s a 1:05 EST start. Maybe don’t tune in right away. When the Washington Nationals and Mets meet this season, they don’t play baseball, they play hot potato with a grenade. Whichever team is caught holding the lead late tends to get blown up.