WASHINGTON — When the bullpen door in left field opened before the bottom of the ninth inning Friday it was somebody other than Edwin Díaz entering to pursue the save.
That somebody for the Mets was Ryne Stanek, who had allowed just one earned run over his first 10 appearances this season. But with the game on the line at Nationals Park, the right-hander couldn’t finish.
A wild night that included the Mets hitting into a phantom triple play ended with Stanek surrendering two runs in a 5-4 walkoff loss to the Nationals that snapped a seven-game winning streak.
James Wood delivered an RBI single under Jeff McNeil’s glove that allowed CJ Abrams to score the winning run from first base. The Nationals had tied the game on Jose Tena’s RBI single against Stanek after Dylan Crews’ leadoff triple off Juan Soto’s glove at the right-field fence.
Diaz departed his last outing on Wednesday with a left hip cramp, but manager Carlos Mendoza cited the closer’s recent workload — even with Thursday’s off day — as the reason he went to Stanek in the ninth. Díaz recorded four outs on Wednesday after pitching the ninth inning two days earlier.
“With the workload I was down today, but I will be good [Saturday],” Díaz told The Post.
The Mets trailed 3-0 when McNeil singled leading off the eighth. Soto delivered a two-out single and Pete Alonso walked to load the bases. Brandon Nimmo’s slow grounder brought in a run against lefty Jose A. Ferrer before the Nationals summoned closer Kyle Finnegan, who surrendered a bloop three-run triple to Mark Vientos (on which Crews dove and missed in right field) that gave the Mets a 4-3 lead.
“I just like how we fought all the way until the end,” Vientos said. “I feel like that’s been this team the whole season so far.”
It might have been a better night for the Mets if not for first base umpire Alfonso Márquez’s missed call in the fourth that resulted in the Nationals turning a triple play.
Jesse Winker hit a shot to first base, and Márquez ruled that first baseman Nathainel Lowe, with runners advancing from first and second, caught Winker’s ball on a line before throwing to second, where Abrams was credited for recording two outs.
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Replays showed Winker’s ball hit the ground, but the play was not reviewable. Nimmo and Vientos each singled to begin the inning and were caught off base on the ball that Márquez ruled caught by Lowe.
“It’s frustrating because we all saw what happened,” said Mendoza, who argued the call. “I’m not blaming [Márquez] because he is behind the play, but the other three [umpires], somebody has got to see that play. It’s just a tough break for us there.”
Kodai Senga lasted six innings for the Mets and allowed two earned runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts. It was the second start in his last three in which Senga pitched at least six innings. He was removed after 96 pitches. Senga kept the ball in the park, extending the Mets’ streak to 13 games without a homer allowed by a starting pitcher.
Nimmo’s mental lapse helped the Nationals go ahead 1-0 in the second, ending Senga’s scoreless streak at 20 ¹/₃ innings. Crews hit a grounder to left field that should have been a two-out single, but when Nimmo was slow retrieving the ball and then lobbed it to third base. Crews kept running and reached second. Tena followed with an RBI single.
Nimmo said he forgot the Mets had turned a double play before Crews’ single and threw to third because he thought there was already a runner on first.
“It was a stupid mental mistake,” Nimmo said. “For some reason I thought there was somebody on first base when I grabbed the ball beforehand and my intention was to go to third base. I cost us a run here and just a stupid mental mistake, that can’t happen.”
Abrams smashed an RBI triple in the third that put the Mets in a 2-0 hole. But Senga rallied to get three outs with Abrams scoring. The right-hander struck out Lowe and Keibert Ruiz to end the inning after Wood was retired on a check-swing grounder in front of the plate.
Abrams’ swinging bunt for a single against Huascar Brazobán in the seventh gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead. Brazobán allowed singles to Crews and Tena to begin the rally.