Mets rally for four in eighth but Nationals earn walk-off win in ninth

CJ Abrams #5 of the Washington Nationals dives into home to score the game-winning run after a James Wood #8 hit in the ninth inning during a baseball game against the Mets at Nationals Park on April 25, 2025 in Washington, DC. Credit: Getty Images/Mitchell Layton
WASHINGTON — It took a bogus triple play and a blown ninth-inning lead for the Mets’ winning streak to end at seven games on Friday night.
The Mets lost to the Nationals, 5-4, as Washington scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth off Ryne Stanek — a curious fill-in for closer Edwin Diaz — and A.J. Minter.
Trailing 3-0 in the eighth inning, the Mets rallied for four two-out runs on an RBI infield single by Brandon Nimmo and a three-run triple by Mark Vientos.
But when the bullpen door swung open in the bottom of the ninth, it was Stanek who came out, not Diaz.
Manager Carlos Mendoza had said before the game that Diaz was “fine” after leaving Wednesday’s game against the Phillies with a hip cramp.
But after the game, Mendoza said he always planned to give Diaz a day off on Friday so he could have back-to-back days of rest and that it was related to recent usage, not health.
Stanek gave up a leadoff triple to deep right by Dylan Crews — Juan Soto got a glove on it at the wall but failed to haul it in — and a tying single by Jose Tena.
Two forceouts later, Minter gave up a single by James Wood that glanced off the glove of second baseman Jeff McNeil and into short centerfield. CJ Abrams raced around from first to score the walk-off run. The Mets challenged the safe call at home, but the replay umpires quickly confirmed that the game was over and the Nationals had won.
“Credit to them for fighting back after we took the lead,” Nimmo said. “They did a great job . . . Hats off to them.”
Washington had a little help. In the fourth inning, the Nationals pulled off a controversial triple play that shouldn’t have been one, as the umpires blew the call.
The Mets were trailing 2-0 with Nimmo on second and Vientos at first.
Jesse Winker lined a ball to first baseman Nathaniel Lowe, who appeared to trap it. First-base umpire Alfonso Marquez signaled out, though, ruling that Lowe had caught the ball on the fly.
Lowe threw to second to double off Nimmo, who was on his way to third base. Shortstop Abrams caught the ball while on the bag for the second out. Abrams tagged Vientos, who was standing on second, for the third out. The play was scored 3-6-6.
Mendoza was incensed, arguing that the ball had been trapped, and replays backed him up. But a ball that is either caught or trapped in the infield is not reviewable under MLB’s replay rules; only a ball hit to the outfield can be reviewed. So the call stood and the inning was over.
It went into the record books as the 11th time in franchise history that the Mets hit into a triple play.
“It’s frustrating, obviously, because we all saw what happened,” Mendoza said. “I’m not blaming Alfonso because he’s the one behind the play. But I think the other three — somebody’s got to see that play. Just a tough break for us there.”
Not surprisingly, Mendoza and Nimmo said they’d like to see those kinds of balls added to what plays are reviewable by replay.
McNeil and Francisco Alvarez made their season debuts after being activated off the injured list and both went 1-for-4. McNeil had been out with an oblique injury and Alvarez had been sidelined with a broken bone in his left hand.
Kodai Senga saw his scoreless streak end at 20 1⁄3 innings when Washington took a 1-0 lead in the second. With two outs and no one on, Crews grounded a single to left and Nimmo, for some reason, threw the ball in the direction of third base. When Crews saw that, he took off for second. It initially was scored a double, then was changed six innings later to a single (second on the throw). Jose Tena followed with an RBI single.
“Stupid mental mistake,” said Nimmo, who admitted he thought there was a runner on first (the previous batter had hit into a double play). “Cost us a run there. Just a stupid mental mistake and that can’t happen.”
Abrams made it 2-0 with an RBI triple off the centerfield wall in the third.
Senga, who went six innings, allowed two runs and six hits, walking two and striking out five.
Abrams added an RBI infield single off Huascar Brazoban in the seventh to make it 3-0.



