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Mets take six-run lead in ninth inning vs. Nationals, doom follows

Jack Baer
Staff writer

Even by New York Mets standards, Tuesday’s game against the Washington Nationals is going to go down as one of the team’s most painful losses.

In a game featuring starts by last year’s Cy Young winner and runner-up in Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer, respectively, the Mets looked like they had registered a knockout blow in the ninth inning when Pete Alonso hit his 44th homer of the season.

That homer gave the Mets five runs in the ninth inning for a 10-4 lead, putting them on the verge of their fourth win in five games. A win would have improved their record to 71-67, just 3.5 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild-card spot.

However, fast forward a half-hour, and this happened.

That Kurt Suzuki homer was the Nationals’ seventh run of the ninth inning, and completed the largest ninth-inning comeback in franchise history.

Relievers Paul Sewald, Luis Avilan and Edwin Diaz combined to allow seven hits and seven runs while registering just one out combined.

Here’s the play-by-play:

  • Victor Robles single

  • Howie Kendrick fly-out

  • Trea Turner RBI double

  • Asdrubal Cabrera single

  • Anthony Rendon RBI single

  • Juan Soto single

  • Ryan Zimmerman RBI double

  • Kurt Suzuki home run

Teams in MLB were 274-0 when entering the bottom of the ninth leading by six or more runs this season, per ESPN’s Linda Cohn. The Mets entered the bottom of the ninth with a 99.7 percent win expectancy, per FanGraphs. And then it, along with any remaining optimism about this Mets team this season, was gone.

New York Mets relief pitcher Edwin Diaz, right, walks off the field as Washington Nationals' Juan Soto scores on Kurt Suzuki's game-winning three-run home run during the ninth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2019, in Washington. Washington won 11-10. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The Mets have reached a new low this season. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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