WASHINGTON — The perfect storm conspired to deprive the Mets of what should have been a sure victory Tuesday night.
Nolan McLean was handed a five-run lead after the Mets had batted twice, but somehow that wasn’t enough.
The rookie got knocked around, with a freak play interspersed, and soon the Mets defense turned leaky. Then the bats that had crushed it early just disappeared.
Poof! The lead vanished. The Mets lost 9-6 to the Nationals, snapping a three-game winning streak.
James Wood’s inside-the-park grand slam in the second inning sent McLean spiraling, and he never recovered. In his worst career start he surrendered nine runs, six of which were earned, on eight hits and two walks with a hit batter over 5 ²/₃ innings.
McLean’s ERA jumped from 2.92 to 3.57, but by working into the sixth he kept the Mets from further overextending a taxed bullpen.
Bo Bichette’s two homers in the first two innings had the Mets rolling with a 5-0 lead, but the good times soon ceased.
Foster Griffin recovered over the next three innings and the Nationals bullpen handled the rest.
Nick Morabito started in left field in his major league debut and finished 0-for-3.
Defensively, he chased down Wood’s shot at the wall in left-center, only for it to ricochet off his glove and roll toward center field, leading to the grand slam that began shifting the game’s momentum.
A night earlier, the Mets scored 10 runs in the 12th inning to rally for a 16-7 victory.
There were plenty of noteworthy offensive performances. This night was quieter, with Bichette — who has underwhelmed during his nearly two months with the club — finally showing a spark before Juan Soto homered in the seventh.
Bichette’s first homer of the night gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the first inning following Carson Benge’s leadoff single.
Mark Vientos brought in the inning’s third run with an RBI double after Soto singled.
After Benge singled with two outs in the second, Bichette smashed his third homer in two games, extending the Mets lead to 5-0.
The blast was Bichette’s fifth this season and gave him the first multihomer game of his Mets career.
But most of the Mets lead disappeared with two outs in the second inning.
McLean allowed a double to Jorbit Vivas and plunked Drew Millas. After Nasim Nuñez singled to load the bases, Wood hit a shot toward the left field fence.
Morabito and Tyrone Taylor converged, with Morabito hitting the wall as the ball caromed off his glove and then the fence and bounded away, allowing Wood to complete a 360-foot jaunt around the bases for the second inside-the-park grand slam in Nationals history.
McLean’s troubles were just starting.
José Tena homered leading off the bottom of the third to tie it 5-5 before CJ Abrams walked and Daylen Lile singled. Luis Torrens’ passed ball gave the Nationals the lead, and Vivas’ sacrifice fly put the Mets in a 7-5 hole.
Sloppy defense by the Mets in the fourth widened the gulf.
Marcus Semien booted Tena’s grounder and unleashed an errant throw to second, putting runners on second and third. Abrams followed with a grounder to Bichette, who fired home.
The ball hit off Torrens’ glove for an error on the catcher. Two runs scored on the play, extending the Nationals’ lead to 9-5.
Soto’s seventh homer of the season pulled the Mets within 9-6 in the seventh inning.
