The Mets spent all summer among the chased and will begin the autumn — or is it The Fall? — as a team chasing.
Goodbye lead for the National League’s third and final wild-card spot. The Mets now have six games to overtake the Reds or they will head home Sunday night without a playoff berth.
The reality of that possibility crept closer on Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Nationals that left the Mets scrambling.
The Reds beat the Cubs 1-0 to move into a tie with the Mets for the final wild-card spot. But the Reds own the head-to-head tiebreaker based on winning the season series, leaving the Mets as chasers for the first time in this race.
“It’s been happening right in front of our eyes, so I can definitely believe it,” Brandon Nimmo said, referring to the Mets’ 35-52 record since June 13. “We’re down to the last week of the season. Our playoff hopes are in front of us.”
Three games against the Cubs await beginning Tuesday at Wrigley Field. The Mets will finish with three games in Miami against a Marlins team that won three of four games in a visit to Citi Field last month.
The Reds, who won their fifth straight on Sunday, face the Pirates and Brewers each in a three-game series. The Reds began their September surge by beating the Mets two of three games in Cincinnati just over two weeks ago. Beginning with that series the Reds have won 10 of 16 games. The Mets have lost 11 of 16 games.
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“We put ourselves in this position, so we have got to find a way to get out of it,” Francisco Lindor said. “That comes down to winning.”
Jacob Young’s second highlight-reel catch of the game helped seal it Sunday: the Nationals center fielder reached above the fence in left-center to rob Francisco Alvarez of a possible game-tying homer leading off the bottom of the ninth.
For a second straight day, the Mets couldn’t produce enough offensively to handle a Nationals team about to finish last in the NL East. The Mets went 2-4 in their final two series against the Nationals.
“You look at the talent here and we’re one hit away, making one play, one pitch — we’re close,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We just haven’t been able to get that last hit or make that play when we need to or execute a pitch.”
Sean Manaea, returning to starting duty following a bullpen appearance last week, lasted only three innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts. Clay Holmes piggybacked Manaea and pitched 3 ²/₃ scoreless innings. It was a reversal from Tuesday, when Manaea piggybacked Holmes.
Manaea fell into a 3-0 hole in the second inning. Jorge Alfaro stroked a double and Daylen Lile, who had been running from first base, scored on the play after Lindor took the cutoff and threw errantly to second base attempting to nail Lile. With two outs, Nasim Nuñez cleared the left field fence for a two-run homer.
“Today I drove in a run, but I also drove in a run on the defensive side,” Lindor said. “If we are going to be where we want to be, those things can’t happen. I have to be better.”
The Mets pulled to within 3-1 in the bottom of the inning as Cedric Mullins followed Luis Torrens’ leadoff double with an RBI single. On the play, Lile slid into the side wall and lost the ball, with initial confusion over whether the play was fair or foul. Mullins said he got confused because Torrens wasn’t running from second and therefore thought the ball had been ruled foul. Mullins only wound up at first base with a single.
Any chance of a big inning was erased when Lindor lined to first base to start a double play. Juan Soto followed with a double and reached third on a balk before he was left stranded.
Young’s first circus catch of the day in center robbed Brett Baty of an extra-base hit in the fifth. Young hit the fence, bobbled the ball and then kicked it midair (hacky-sack style) into his glove for a jaw-dropping out.
Lindor homered leading off the bottom of the sixth against Jake Irvin to slice the Nationals lead to 3-2. The Mets left the tying run at second base in the eighth when Jeff McNeil was retired for the final out.
“It’s not ideal, but we can still get into this thing,” Nimmo said of the postseason. “Nothing has changed even though the Reds won their game.”