Daylen Lile hit the tie-breaking two-run inside-the-park home run in the 11th inning Saturday for the visiting Washington Nationals, who squandered a three-run lead before handing the New York Mets a potentially damaging 5-3 loss in the middle game of a three-game series.
Automatic runner CJ Abrams opened the 11th by getting tagged out as he tried advancing to third on Andres Chaparro’s grounder against Tyler Rogers (4-6) before Lile hit a ball well over the head of Mets centerfielder Cedric Mullins.
The ball bounced off the fence and caromed past Mullins and the fleet-footed Lile, who has 11 triples in just 85 games this season, never broke stride sprinting around the bases and slid home well ahead of the throw.
Sauryn Lao (1-0) wriggled out of a two-on, none-out jam in the 10th before PJ Poulin earned his first save with a perfect 11th.
Lile hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice in the first and Dylan Crews and Riley Adams scored in unusual fashion in the second for the Nationals (63-92), who snapped a five-game losing streak.
Mark Vientos laced a pinch-hit, two-RBI double in the eighth and Juan Soto delivered the game-tying run-scoring single in the ninth for the Mets (80-75), who had the bases loaded with one out in the ninth but were unable to collect the winning run.
New York, which has not won a game this season in which it trailed after eight innings, entered Saturday two games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the race for the final National League wild card spot.
Rookie starters Nolan McLean and Cade Cavalli each threw five innings. McLean, making his seventh start for the Mets, allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits and two walks while striking out six. His ERA rose from 1.19 to 1.27.
The Nationals scored their unearned runs in the second, when Crews led off with a single and raced all the way home when Juan Soto misplayed Adams’ single to right. Adams, who went to third on the error, scored on McLean’s wild pitch.
Cavalli allowed five hits and walked one while striking out three in the second-longest scoreless effort of his career. The 27-year-old rookie right-hander blanked the Philadelphia Phillies over seven innings in his first big league win on Aug. 16.
