Edwin Diaz blows save as Mets fall to Nationals

WASHINGTON — In the Mets’ situation, scraping by for playoff positioning with time ticking away and the odds ever so not in their favor, every loss this time of year feels like a heartbreaker.

But this one especially so.

Edwin Diaz blew his second consecutive save chance Monday as the Mets dropped the series finale, 4-3, to the Nationals, Carter Kieboom sneaking a walk-off single up the middle to finish a rally that went walk, walk, single, single.

The Mets finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight on base. Washington lefthander Patrick Corbin held them to three runs in seven innings.

Although the loss was just their second in 10 games, it pushed the Mets (69-69) to four games back of NL East-leading Atlanta, which did not play.

Just 24 games to go.

"It’s definitely down to a sprint," catcher James McCann said. "It’s not a marathon anymore. You gotta put blinders on and not let outside noise or let a game like today snowball into anything else."

The Mets won three of five games against the Nationals (57-80). In all three wins, they lost late and/or big leads but survived. This time, they couldn’t hang on.

The warning signs of a Diaz meltdown came immediately. He walked his first batter, Alcides Escobar, on four pitches. Juan Soto flied out, but Josh Bell worked a full-count walk to put two runners on with one out.

Pinch hitter Andrew Stevenson fell behind 0-and-2 before hooking a slider to rightfield for a single, scoring Escobar. He slid in just ahead of Michael Conforto’s throw and McCann’s tag. The Mets challenged the call because they thought Escobar might have missed the plate, but the ruling was upheld.

"There’s a reason why we challenged the play," McCann said. "I don’t think in that moment we’re going to search for something that’s not there. The replay system is in place for a reason, and that’s why we challenged."

That brought up Kieboom, with one out and the winning run on third base. His ground ball bounced three times and deflected off the glove of shortstop Francisco Lindor, who probably would not have been able to make a play at the plate if he had fielded it cleanly. The ball trickled into centerfield as the game ended.

Both runners who scored, Escobar and Bell, reached via walk. On Friday, Diaz walked Ryan Zimmerman, who wound up scoring the tying run.

Before these back-to-back blown saves, he hadn’t allowed a run in 10 innings spanning almost a month.

"Singles are going to happen. You are going to miss a spot with one pitch," said manager Luis Rojas, who indicated he has no intention of moving away from Diaz as the closer. "But the walks, those are the things we saw in both outings that hurt."

Diaz said: "I didn’t command my pitches the way I want to. I couldn’t command my slider low in the zone . . . I have to command the fastball better to get good results."

Until the bottom of the ninth, this game was not a clinic in situational hitting.

Corbin (6.14 ERA) scattered 11 hits and a walk. Mets righthander Trevor Williams, similarly, worked around 10 hits and two walks, giving up two runs in five innings.

Pete Alonso was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning, positioning him as the would-be hero until Diaz blew it.

That left the Mets bemoaning their many missed chances.

"Let’s talk about the offense, too," Rojas said. "I know it’s a tough loss and we talk about that ninth inning and the walks and the single there, but once again, 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, you just gotta finish. You gotta deliver. You gotta score the runs that you’re setting yourself up to score. That’s happened repeatedly for us this season."