The Nationals were behind in the bottom of the 9th inning by a score of 3-1. The Mets of course had their closer Jeurys Familia on the mound, and the first batter he faced was Daniel Murphy who hustled out an infield hit to the Mets 2nd baseman. Bryce Harper hit a grounder to Jose Reyes, and Bryce booked it down the line and Reyes rushed his throw and threw it away as Murphy moved up to 3rd base and Bryce to 2nd base.
With no outs, Anthony Rendon singled off of Familia to make the score 3-2, and Bryce Harper was on 3rd and Anthony Rendon on 1st base. Wilson Ramos bounced a single over Familia to score Bryce Harper to tie the game at 3-3. Difo would replace Ramos as a pinch-runner at 1st base. With runners on 2nd and 1st and no outs, Ryan Zimmerman got his turn. Zim tried to bunt the ball on the first pitch but fouled it off. He quickly got into a two strike count and then send a weak flare to the 1st baseman for out number one.
Dusty Baker pulled Danny Espinosa to pinch-hit with Clint Robinson who hit a low liner directly at the 2nd baseman who caught it above the dirt and doubled Difo off 1st base for the 3rd out.
Mark Melancon came in for the 10th inning and gave up a solo home run to make the score 4-3. In the bottom of the 10th, Jayson Werth got a 2 out hit which set-up Daniel Murphy against Jerry Blevins. Blevins struck out Murphy on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.
Rewind now back to the biggest play in the game in a 1-1 game. With A.J. Cole pitching and no outs, Yoenis Cespedes was on first base and Curtis Granderson hit a hard grounder at the feet of Ryan Zimmerman that went down the line for a triple to score Cespedes. The ball on replay showed it went under Zimmerman’s glove and looked like a ball you want for a tailor-made doubleplay. Granderson would eventually score on a sacrifice fly to make the score at the time 3-1.
A.J. Cole looked better than his final line as his defense had some issues in defensive positioning and making some plays, and that was the difference in his outing. Cole struck out 6 batters over 5 innings.
Trea Turner had his worst offensive day of the season going 0-5, and it happens. Make adjustments and tomorrow is a new day.
Noah Syndergaard was the best he has looked all season against the Nationals holding them to 1 run over 7 innings. The only run Syndergaard gave up was an RBI double by Wilson Ramos.
“It still hurts to lose a game like that when you had an opportunity to win,” said Dusty Baker.
