3 September NY Mets losses that look even worse after missing out on a playoff spot

3) September 20

The Mets lost an extra-innings heartbreaker against the Washington Nationals on the 20th. The game started bleak for the Mets when they were down by three runs by the end of the second inning. The Mets were also playing sloppy baseball. Mets' starter Nolan McLean allowed a walk to James Wood to lead off the game, then helped him advance to second base on a one-out wild pitch, which would come back to bite him. Josh Bell then moved Wood over another base with a single, and he then scored on a Daylen Lile groundout. 

McLean still got two strikeouts, but the Mets were already on the back foot. The top of the second inning started off with a Dylan Crews single. Riley Adams then came to the dish and smacked another base hit. But Juan Soto chose the wrong time for his first error of the season, letting the ball get by him, scoring Crews and advancing Adams to third base. After another error, this time committed by Pete Alonso, McLean nearly got out of the jam by striking out Nasim Nunez and James Wood. But the right-hander uncorked his second wild pitch of the game, allowing a third run to score.

The Mets were held scoreless for the first seven innings of the game until the eighth inning. After Nimmo grounded into a force out for the second out of the inning, both Starling Marte and Mark Vientos came up clutch with doubles. The Mets went into the bottom of the 9th down by just one run, and they would begin to threaten with a 9th-inning rally once again. Catcher Luis Torrens led off the inning with a single before being pulled for Jose Siri. Siri was then moved to second base by a Cedric Mullins sac bunt. Lindor was hit by a pitch, but Soto came through, making up for his error and tying the game with a sac fly. After the Nats walked Alonso to load the bases with one out, both Nimmo and Marte couldn't come up with any heroics to walk the game off.

The Mets and Nats were held scoreless in the 10th inning, but the Nats would take the lead with a one-out inside-the-park two-run home run off Tyler Rogers, and yet another misplay, this time off the wall by Mullins. Nationals' southpaw PJ Poulin threw a perfect 11th inning, earning a win over the Mets. To add insult to injury on top of all the misplays and wild pitches, the Reds won that day, which gained them a game over the Mets in the standings.