It appears the New York Mets needed a dramatic shift at the MLB trade deadline to reinvigorate a disappointing season.
Francisco Lindor singled to right field, delivering pinch‑runner Cristian Pache home and sealing a 5‑4 walk‑off victory for the Mets against the Nationals on Saturday.
Trailing 4‑3 in the bottom of the ninth, Brett Baty earned a leadoff walk on five pitches from Washington reliever Yovanny Cruz. Jorge Polanco then singled a hanging slider through the middle of the zone, with Pache taking over as pinch‑runner.
Baty later scored on Francisco Alvarez’s double, capitalizing on another slider Cruz left in the middle of the zone to tie the game at 4‑4. Cruz recovered, striking out A.J. Ewing despite falling behind 0‑2, using a slider that dove low in the strike zone.
With Dylan Crews playing shallow in hopes of catching Pache at home, Lindor lofted a low slider over the right fielder’s head, delivering the winning run.
Jared Young drove in the go‑ahead runs with a bases‑loaded single in the first inning, giving the Mets an early 2‑0 lead against Washington starter Brad Lord. The Nationals responded with a solo home run from Andrés Chaparro in the fourth inning and a three‑run shot from Brady House in the sixth to take a 4‑2 advantage. Carson Benge answered with a home run, trimming the Mets’ deficit to 4‑3.
Since the August 3 trade deadline, when the front office dealt away eight players, the Mets have captured eight of eleven games. However, with the season progressing, such moves are now too late to impact the NL East or wild‑card race. Despite the recent surge, New York remains in last place at 55‑69, 19 games off the pace of the division‑leading Atlanta Braves and 4.5 games behind Washington for fourth spot.
Meanwhile, the Nationals have slipped to a 4‑1 mark in their last five games following a three‑game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds. The setbacks have left Washington at 60‑65, six games out of the NL’s third wild‑card position, with six teams now ahead of them in the race.
