WASHINGTON — With their season spiraling toward the abyss just over a week ago, it was fair to wonder if the Mets would even sniff .500 again this year.
That benchmark of mediocrity likely won’t get them to the playoffs, but it’s often the first step in resembling a team with a chance. The Mets returned to .500 Friday night, overcoming Edwin Diaz’s first blown save in six weeks to beat the Nationals 6-2 in 10 innings.
Pete Alonso’s RBI single in the 10th against Austin Voth brought in Francisco Lindor, the automatic runner at second base, with the go-ahead run. Alonso’s hit elicited a chant of “Let’s go Mets” from behind the third-base dugout at Nationals Park, where a collection of fans wearing orange and blue helped the visitors feel at home. Those cheers intensified with Kevin Pillar’s two-run double that widened the Mets’ lead. Jonathan Villar delivered an RBI single that put the Mets ahead 6-2, before Jeurys Familia got three outs.
“I just think that sometimes you need a whole team to get a win and I feel like we did that,” Alonso said.
Diaz had recorded nine straight saves since his last blown save, on July 19 in Cincinnati. He entered with a 1.13 ERA over that stretch, with 23 strikeouts in 16 innings.
Juan Soto started the comeback against Diaz in the ninth in a hurry, lofting the right-hander’s first pitch over the left-field fence to pull the Nationals within 2-1.
Diaz recorded an out before walking Ryan Zimmerman on four pitches and allowing a bloop to Riley Adams that eluded Brandon Nimmo’s diving outstretched glove. The ball rolled behind Nimmo and was retrieved by Michael Conforto. Javier Baez’s relay throw to the plate resulted in a collision between pinch-runner Andrew Stevenson and catcher Chance Sisco, with the runner safe. Sisco was knocked out of the game on the collision and replaced by Patrick Mazeika. Following the delay, Diaz recovered to get the final two outs — with the winning run at third base — and send the game to extra innings.
“We had time to chat a little bit [with the delay] and [Diaz] was under control,” manager Luis Rojas said. “He knew what he wanted to do with the batter and the guy following that batter. That was a good sign of him having a good heartbeat and being under control and trusting that he was going to get out of the situation.”
Facing the NL East dregs, the Mets won their sixth straight (including a suspended game against Miami that is officially recorded as an April victory). The potential feast will continue with four additional games against these stripped-down Nationals to conclude the Labor Day weekend. That schedule includes a Saturday split doubleheader at Nationals Park — one game is a makeup from the opening series of the season that was postponed following a COVID-19 outbreak among the Nationals.
The Mets, who moved within four games of the Braves for the NL East lead, fell to .500 with a loss in San Francisco on Aug. 16 and had remained below that level since the following day. They were six games below .500 with a loss to the Nationals that began their last homestand, but have run the table since then.
“Every game is really huge at this point of the year,” Alonso said. “You can’t make the playoffs if you are below .500, so it’s a good stepping stone.”
Rich Hill, in his best start since the Mets acquired him a week before the trade deadline, pitched six shutout innings in which he allowed three hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Seth Lugo and Aaron Loup fired a scoreless inning apiece before the Nationals rallied against Diaz in the ninth.
Conforto’s RBI single in the second gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Baez doubled with one out before Conforto hit a line drive off pitcher Sean Nolin’s shoulder that caromed to the outfield for a 1-0 lead. Pillar’s ensuing double put runners on second and third, but Nolin struck out before Hill was retired.
Alonso delivered a two-out RBI triple in the third that extended the Mets’ lead to 2-0. Nimmo walked, and after Lindor was retired, Alonso hit a bloop to right that Soto overran. As Soto pursued the ball, Alonso legged it to third base for his second triple of the season.
“We’re playing really good baseball right now,” Rojas said. “The bats coming alive right now is the biggest difference right now from some of the bad stretches we’ve had during the season and the bad stretch we had in August.”
