What appeared to be one of the Mets’ best wins of the year became one of the biggest meltdowns in recent baseball history. The Mets scored five runs in the top of the ninth to take a 10-4 lead in DC. This is in a game started by three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer for Washington (though the Mets had a Cy Young winner on the mound themselves in Jacob deGrom).
So, things seemed to be in pretty great shape for the Mets entering the ninth inning. FanGraphs gave them a 99.7% chance to win.
Then Victor Robles singled. After a Howie Kendrick flyout, Trea Turner doubled. Asdrubal Cabrera singled. Anthony Rendon singled. Juan Soto singled. Ryan Zimmerman doubled. And Kurt Suzuki homered.
The Suzuki dinger was of the three-run, walk-off variety. That’s right- the Nats scored seven runs in the ninth to win 11-10.
Bottom of the 9th…
2 men on…
Down by 2…KURT SUZUKI FOR THE WIN! #WALKOFF
🗣️#STAYINTHEFIGHT // #OnePursuit pic.twitter.com/8Abn7WNDZQ
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 4, 2019
The radio call of Kurt Suzuki's #WALKOFF home run is the song of the summer.@CharlieSlowes // @DaveJageler pic.twitter.com/bOavak1BxI
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 4, 2019
The win probability graph for Mets-Nationals: pic.twitter.com/vKUkjYlbGI
— Devan Fink (@DevanFink) September 4, 2019
A full-on implosion from the Mets’ bullpen (Paul Sewald- 1/3 IP, 4 ER; Luis Avilán- O IP, 1 ER; Edwin Diaz- 0 IP, 2 ER), getting just one out and allowing seven runs to fail to protect a six-run lead. The timing is particularly rough; the loss moves the Mets to five games back of the Cubs for the second NL Wild Card slot. It’s a crushing loss.
It’s an incredible, memorable win for the red-hot Nats, though. They’re now 78-59 and have a 3.5-game lead for the No. 1 NL Wild Card slot.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.