Washington Nationals: Late Inning Mistakes Down Nationals

The Washington Nationals lost to the New York Mets last night, 5-3.  A trio of late-inning mistakes crushed any chance of a comeback.

The Washington Nationals lost game one of yet another series.  Somehow, they found another creative way to lose.

Let’s summarize the first seven and a half innings of the game:

• Patrick Corbin struggles, allowing four earned runs in five innings.
• Anthony Rendon continues to be a one-man offense, hitting a solo home run, a double, and walking twice.
• Tanner Rainey impresses in his debut with the Nats.
• The game enters the bottom of the eighth inning with the Mets leading 4-3.

The half-inning starts with Todd Frazier striking out.  During the next at-bat, Carlos Gomez hits a foul ball down the first base side, heading into the Mets dugout.  Nats first baseman Gerardo Parra chases it down.  The ball hits the bottom of Parra’s mitt and bounces out.

The result of the at-bat was a walk.

With Gomez on first, pitcher Joe Ross attempts a pick-off move two times.  The first time, the attempt was so close that the Nats challenged the call of safe, but the ruling was upheld.

The second time, Ross committed a throwing error, allowing Gomez to take second base.

Gomez eventually scored on a ground ball allowed by Tony Sipp, the first pitch he threw since returning from the Injured List.  Now the Nats are down by two runs instead of one.

The good news is that the Nats immediately got traffic on the basepaths against Mets closer Edwin Diaz.

There are two runners on base (Victor Robles on third, Trea Turner on first) with two outs.  Adam Eaton, who was 0-4 coming into the at-bat, steps into the batter’s box.

The MASN broadcasters said what everybody was thinking: Turner must attempt a steal early in the count.  He did just that.  On the second pitch of the at-bat, Turner took off for second base.

However, Eaton stupidly swung and popped the ball up lazily to left field, ending the game.

Boneheaded mistakes like these are why the Nationals sit 9.0 games back in the National League East and have been all but mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.