Nationals rally past Mets in 11 innings as Mullins misplay compounds defensive woes

The Washington Nationals defeated the New York Mets 5-3 in 11 innings Saturday at Citi Field, thanks to Daylen Lile’s inside-the-park home run off reliever Tyler Rogers in the 11th that delivered the final two runs. The Mets had mounted a late comeback from a three-run deficit, but a costly defensive lapse and a misplay in center field helped Washington seal the win.

Two errors in the second inning helped the Nationals take a 3-0 lead against rookie Nolan McLean, setting the stage for the Mets’ bid to rally. Center fielder Cedric Mullins misplayed a fly ball in center, and the ball zipped over his head and ricocheted off the wall toward right field. Mullins chased after the ball, but after getting it to cutoff man Francisco Lindor, the relay throw sailed high over catcher Francisco Alvarez’s head as Daylen Lile slid across the plate to complete a speedy 14.86-second sprint around the bases. Automatic runner Andrés Chaparro scored from second base ahead of Lile on the play.

“It’s just more or less an instinctive type play, just do what you can,” Mullins said of the miscue. “I knew what I was trying to do there, just didn’t execute it.” Mullins, who was acquired from the Orioles at the trade deadline, chased the ball with the shifted defense in play as Rogers presented a different look on the mound. Jose Siri, who had been booed by the home crowd Friday night after several misplays, contributed to a stretch of defensive miscues that plagued the Mets earlier in the game.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza weighed in on Mullins’ misplay, stressing that the ball’s odd angle off the wall limited options for a glove-side read. “Obviously, even if he stops there, once it hits that part of the wall on an angle like that, and it bounced toward the warning track, towards right field, there’s not much he can do there,” Mendoza said.

The Mets, who trailed 3-0 after the second inning, mounted a late charge to force extra innings, but the rally fell short. The defeat dropped New York to 0-66 on the season when trailing after eight innings, underscoring a persistent challenge in close games. Mullins’ misplay and the added defensive issues were the latest in a string of shaky plays that have drawn scrutiny from coaches and observers alike.

“We were playing a little shifted over because Rogers is a unique pitcher, so the defensive alignment is a little different,” Mullins explained. “He put a good swing on it, and I thought I got a decent jump. Once I realized that I wasn’t gonna have a play, I tried to stop myself to be able to read it off the wall. Just got up on me pretty quick.”

Mendoza noted the turning point came early, with the Nats capitalizing on the Mets’ misplays. “There’s not much you can do if the ball finds a gap and the throw sails high,” he said. “We’ll learn from it and move on.”

The narrative of the night shifted in the 11th, when Washington’s offense finally broke through after a tense scoreless frame in the middle innings. The Mets, meanwhile, failed to push across a decisive run in their half of the 11th, allowing the Nationals to close the contest on the right side of a one-run game before Lile’s decisive, two-run swing.

The final sequence of the 11th featured Chaparro starting as the automatic runner on second base and crossing home before Lile engulfed the field with an inside-the-park shot. The play essentially ended the Mets’ comeback bid and extended New York’s woes in late-game situations this season.

Mullins, who joined the Mets at the trade deadline, offered a candid acknowledgement of the rough day, but emphasized that individual plays don’t define a season. “Baseball is a game of 162 games,” he said. “You have your moments, and you move on.”

The loss adds to a toll that includes a string of defensive lapses this season for New York, with the team contending with injuries and lineup changes as they attempt to stabilize a fragile defense and fluctuating pitching performance. The Nationals, meanwhile, found success capitalizing on Mets’ miscues and combining it with timely hitting to secure the win.

In the aftermath, Mendoza and the Mets will look to regroup as they head into the next series, trying to translate late-inning opportunities into victories. The night’s events also provided a reminder of how quickly a game can swing on a single misplay or a well-placed miscue, especially in an era of aggressive baserunning and defensive shifts.