Nationals rally to force extras, then fall apart by yielding 10-run 12th inning to Mets

That the Nationals still had a chance to win this game was almost inexplicable.

The team hadn’t had a good day fielding the ball — they recorded four errors — which led to multiple runs for the Mets. But the Nationals’ resilient, dangerous offense came through to send Monday’s series opener into extra innings.

Then the wheels fell off during a 10-run 12th inning that forced Nationals manager Blake Butera to use infielder Jorbit Vivas after the team exhausted all of its available pitchers in a 16-7 loss.

“We just made too many mistakes to beat a team like this,” Butera said. “We had plenty of opportunities to still win that game, and just didn’t convert at the end.”

After both teams failed to score in the 10th and plated a run apiece in the 11th, New York catcher Hayden Senger dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance designated runner Tyrone Taylor to third. Right fielder Carson Benge hit a bouncer that glanced off reliever Paxton Schultz’s glove for an RBI single.

Schultz then loaded the bases by allowing a single to third baseman Bo Bichette and intentionally walking designated hitter Juan Soto.

Shortstop Vidal Brujan — who entered the game late as a pinch runner — popped up a bunt attempt that fell in front of Schultz on the infield grass, scoring Benge to extend the lead to 8-6. The bases remain loaded, and Brett Baty’s two-run single broke the game open. Marcus Semien added a run on a line drive single that forced Schultz out of the game.

This was Schultz’s third consecutive game on the mound. Butera said the coaching staff wanted to keep his pitch count to around 20, given his heavy workload of late. After Semien’s single, Butera opted to use Vivas.

But before Vivas could enter the game, the umpiring crew had to confer with the league office in New York to confirm whether Butera could put a position player on the mound. During regulation, teams can only call on a position player to pitch if they are down eight runs at any point or up 10 runs in the ninth inning. It is permitted in any situation during extra innings.

The officials spent minutes on the phone before the proper ruling was made.

Vivas entered and allowed two inherited runners to score and surrendered three runs of his own.

“It was very frustrating,” Butera said. “I mean, just the optics of it, of course, and then also possibly having to ask Schultz to come back on the mound. I told them, ‘We’re not asking some other pitcher to come out here.’ We’ll do whatever we have to, just in terms of health, injuries, like, just can’t let that happen.”

Schultz was appreciative of Butera and the pitching staff having his back, but he was disappointed he couldn’t perform for his team.

“I’m a competitor,” Schultz said. “I’ve always wanted to go out there and give my best and win any chance I can. It’s three days in a row, and I don’t think that’s too big of an ask for me; I’m going to be out there going every time.”

Washington’s offense had a strong showing with 12 hits and runs in the seventh and eighth to tie the game, but they put themselves behind with a shaky defensive performance.

In the second inning, James Wood’s two-error play allowed Taylor to advance to third base on a fly-ball single. Luis Torrens’ RBI double off Washington starter Jake Irvin’s sweeper in the heart of the zone gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Nationals’ shaky defense reared its head once again. Torrens reached on a fielding error by Luis Garcia Jr., who couldn’t cleanly field the groundball, and it led to Irvin being removed from the game and replaced by PJ Poulin. Poulin walked Benge before inducing a flyout from Bichette that moved the runners over.

Soto then hit a two-run single to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Bichette added on in the seventh with a solo homer off left-hander Mitchell Parker.

The Nationals’ lineup responded in the bottom half of the inning. Wood hit a leadoff double, Curtis Mead pinch hit and drew a walk, and House worked his own free pass to load the bases with no outs.

CJ Abrams’ sacrifice fly cut the deficit to 5-4. After Lile popped out for the second out, the Nationals loaded the bases once more, but they couldn’t push another run across.

Washington managed to even the score in the eighth when Wood singled with two outs and Mead brought him home with a double.

For a moment, it felt like the Nationals had momentum on their side. They couldn’t carry it into extra innings when they gave themselves opportunities to score.

In the 10th, after Drew Millas moved the designated runner Vivas to third with a sacrifice bunt, Wood was intentionally walked and Mead worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases.

Nasim Nuñez hit a grounder to first baseman Mark Vientos, who threw home to get Vivas, and Abrams struck out to end the threat.

New York scored a run in the top of the 11th, and Washington answered when Lile’s soft grounder advanced the designated runner Abrams to third and Wiemer brought him in with an infield single.

Washington had another chance to drive in the winning run when Vivas hit a two-out double to put runners on second and third. The Nationals couldn’t take advantage.

Then everything fell apart in a disastrous 12th.

“I don’t think any of these mistakes were a lack of effort, more so a lack of execution,” Butera said. “Situational hitting, defensively, things that if we want to play winning baseball, we have to clean up and convert on some of these opportunities that we had.”