Mets ninth-inning comeback washed away as inside-the-park home run leads to loss

NEW YORK — The air was punctured out of Citi Field as Daylen Lile flew around the bases for a rare inside-the-park home run in the top of the 11th inning.

It gutted the crowd, which had witnessed the Mets mount a feverish comeback from three runs down between the eighth and ninth innings.

It was all for naught, with Lile's highlight off Tyler Rogers spelling disaster for the Mets in a 5-3 loss to the Nationals in 11 innings in front of a sold-out crowd of 43,412 fans on Saturday night at Citi Field.

After Ronny Mauricio was able to tag the automatic runner out on a chopper to third base, Lile cracked a line drive over the head of Cedric Mullins and it careened back past him off the wall allowing the speedster to plate the two go-ahead runs.

Despite equalizing on an RBI single by Juan Soto in the top of the ninth after Luis Torrens had reached on a pinch-hit single and Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch, the Mets left a key runner stranded in the 10th with a chance to win.

They are now 0-for-67 this season when trailing entering the ninth inning despite coming painstakingly close to snapping that trend.

With the Reds punching back in the standings, Saturday's loss cut the Mets' advantage in the NL Wild Card to 1.5 games, with Cincinnati set to face the Cubs later on.

It was a disappointing result in the Mets' penultimate game at home after they grabbed two out of three from the Padres and buried the Nationals in a 12-6 result on Friday night.

Mark Vientos breaks streak of missed chances

After numerous missed opportunities in the first seven innings, the Mets finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth.

Pete Alonso was hit by a pitch before Brandon Nimmo beat out a potential inning-ending double play. Starling Marte lined a double over the head of James Wood in left field and Mark Vientos emerged as a pinch hitter to plate a pair of runs and slice the Mets' deficit to 3-2.

It ended an empty day for the Mets offense, which had left seven runners on base in the first seven innings. They were 0-fo-5 with runners in scoring position before Vientos' hit.

Nolan McLean's day soured by shoddy defense

A haphazard second inning put the Mets into their early hole.

With Nolan McLean on the mound, he gave up a single deep into the shortstop hole but then things went awry. A single by Riley Adams in the next at-bat skipped over Juan Soto's glove and reached the wall. Crews scored and Adams sprinted to third.

In the next at-bat, Brady House chopped a ground ball to the right side that was fielded by Pete Alonso but threw high to McLean covering first base. Then, a wild pitch allowed Adams to score and dig the Mets into a 3-0 deficit.

It was the major mark on McLean's outing as he finished with three runs allowed (one earned) on four hits and two walks while striking out six in five innings.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mets comeback washed away as Nats inside-the-park HR leads to loss