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In what was a wacky game on Friday night between the Mets and the Washington Nationals, perhaps the strangest play happened in the fourth inning. Something that hasn't happened to New York in 15 years.

With runners on first and second and nobody out after back-to-back singles by Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos, the Mets were on the verge of a potential big inning against Jake Irvin, who had a 2-0 lead and was pitching well up until that point.

Instead, Jesse Winker lined a ball to first base that was caught by Nathaniel Lowe. At least, that's what was called on the field by first base umpire Alfonso Marquez. With both baserunners trying to advance, the Nationals threw to second and first base for the force outs, which resulted in a triple play.

Threat over.

However, on instant replay, it was clear that the ball hit the dirt before going into Lowe's glove which should've negated the triple play. Unfortunately for New York, that play is not reviewable and could not be challenged by manager Carlos Mendoza.

"It’s frustrating, obviously, because we all saw what happened," the skipper said after the game. "And I’m not blaming Alfonso because he’s the one behind the play, but I think the other three [umpires], somebody’s got to see that play. Tough break for us there.",

After the call on the field, Mendoza went out to argue that the umpires should at least get together to talk about what they saw. His request was to no avail as all four umpires apparently saw the same thing as Marquez.

"They said that if somebody saw it, somebody would have just called to Alfonso, and that was my frustration there. We all saw it in the dugout," Mendoza said.

While having a wrong call go against you is undeniably frustrating, especially in this day and age of replay review, what had Mendoza and the Mets most annoyed was how crucial the call was at that point in the game.

Already down 2-0 and unable to get anything going against Irvin, New York's golden opportunity to do some damage against the right-hander was stripped away in the blink of an eye.

"That’s just frustrating – a play like that with so much impact, not only in that inning but in the game, it’s first and second, nobody out and before you know it, you’re out of the inning and there’s nothing you can do about it," Mendoza said. "I was asking for them to get together and it was just a pretty frustrating play."

Following the game, Nimmo and Vientos were asked about what they saw on the play.

While Vientos called it a baserunning mistake on his part for not freezing and going back to first base on the sharp liner, Nimmo said he made a split-second decision while acknowledging that it's a tough play.

"I thought I saw a little skip [of the ball] before the glove and so I decided to go [to third base]," Nimmo said. "But you’re also kind of in no-man’s land when it’s hit hard at [someone] like that and it’s a close play on the ground…

"Just unfortunate timing there and one of those plays where unfortunately on the base paths you’re kind of in no-man’s land and you just gotta make a decision and see what the umpires end up saying."

Perhaps most frustrating of all is the fact that that specific play can not be reviewed. If MLB has the capability to review close plays, why not extend that power to all plays to ensure every call is correct?

It's an answer Mendoza, Nimmo and the rest of the Mets are still searching for.

"I do think it switched momentum big time," Nimmo added.

NEW YORK (AP) — Alejandro Kirk hit a go-ahead two-run double in the ninth inning off Yankees closer Devin Williams and the Toronto Blue Jays beat New York 4-2 on Friday night, snapping a five-game losing streak.

Williams (0-2), who has an 11.25 ERA in his first 10 appearances, failed to retire a batter and blew his first save in five chances.

After allowing a leadoff single to George Springer and hitting Andrés Giménez, Kirk lifted a 1-0 changeup over the had of center fielder Trent Grisham and Williams was pulled by manager Aaron Boone.

Kirk’s big hit came after he threw out Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cody Bellinger at second on stolen base attempts in the sixth.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in the sixth and Addison Barger added an RBI single in the ninth off Mark Leiter Jr. to give the Blue Jays a 4-2 lead.

Austin Wells hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Oswaldo Cabrera hit a tying single in the seventh, but the Yankees stranded two in the seventh. New York stranded 11 runners and were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

Mason Fluharty (1-0) earned his first win by keeping the game at 2-1 in the eighth.

Toronto starter José Berríos allowed five hits in 5 1/3 innings for his first scoreless start since Aug. 31 at Minnesota. Berríos struck out four and walked two.

New York starter Carlos Carrasco allowed three hits in five scoreless innings.

Key moment

Jeff Hoffman stranded Ben Rice by retiring Paul Goldschmidt for his sixth save in as many chances.

Key stats

Opponents are 6 for 22 (.273) against Williams’ changeup. Last season, Williams allowed six hits in 37 at-bats (.162) off the pitch.

Up next

Toronto RHP Kevin Gausman (2-2, 3.16 ERA) opposes New York LHP Max Fried (4-0, 1.42) on Saturday.

The Mets fought late to come back and take the lead against the Washington Nationals just to blow it in the ninth and lost to their division rivals, 5-4, on Friday night.

Here are the takeaways...

-New York entered the top of the eighth inning down 3-0 after Jake Irvin spent the entire evening dicing them up, allowing just five hits -- all singles -- in 7.1 innings. But with a runner on first and one out, Washington manager Dave Martinez pulled the right-hander after 98 pitches and went to his shaky bullpen. The decision did not pay off.

-With two outs, Juan Soto singled, Pete Alonso walked and with the bases loaded, Brandon Nimmo hit one up the middle that found enough of a hole to drive in a run.

Now facing Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan, Mark Vientos dumped one just inside the right-field line, where right fielder Dylan Crews made a diving attempt but came up empty. The do-or-die play by a young player cleared the bases to give the Mets the lead and put Vientos on third for his first triple of the season and the second of his career.

-With their first lead of the night, center fielder Tyrone Taylor made an excellent play in the bottom of the eighth inning, throwing out Luis Garcia Jr. at second base, trying to extend a single into a double. The assist helped Reed Garrett pitch a scoreless inning as the reliever has still not allowed an earned run this season.

-Crews made up for his lapse in judgment on the dive attempt with a leadoff triple to start the last of the ninth against Ryne Stanek, who was vying for the save. While the ball was hit hard and traveled to the warning track, Soto had a glove on it and had a chance to catch it, but the ball went off his glove. Jose Tena tied the game with a single.

-A.J. Minter replaced Stanek and got CJ Abrams to ground into a force out for the second out, but put a lot of speed at first base. That came back to bite New York after James Wood singled to center on a slowly hit ball. With Taylor playing back and having to run in for the ball, Abrams never stopped running and slid home in front of the tag at the plate to give Washington the walk-off win.

-On the walk-off hit by Wood, Jeff McNeil -- in his first game back from the IL -- made a poor effort on the ball, which ultimately allowed the winning run to score.

-Kodai Senga got the start in the series opener and it was clear from the first inning that the right-hander was searching for his pitches as he wasn't getting a lot of swing-and-misses.

The Nationals got to him in the second inning after a mental mistake byNimmo, who threw the ball from left field to third base after a two-out hit byCrews. The gaffe allowed Crews, who, to his credit, took a wide turn at first base, to end up on second base for a double. On Senga's very next pitch,Tena ripped a single to left that drove in the game's first run and put an end to Senga's 19.2 scoreless innings streak.

After the two-out rally in the second, Washington jumped on top of Senga to lead off the third. Jacob Young singled to start the inning andAbrams tripled high off the center field wall, and just like that, three pitches into the inning, the Nats doubled their lead.

In need of a strikeout, Senga got the next best thing -- a tapper to the catcher for the first out, keeping Abrams at third. Senga would eventually strike out the next two hitters for his first two strikeouts of the night, which couldn't have come at a better time and ended the inning without further damage.

From then on, the 32-year-old locked in and retired 11 consecutive hitters following the triple. That streak was snapped with two outs in the sixth inning after Senga walked Keibert Ruiz. A second straight walk prompted pitching coach Jeremy Hefner to talk things over with the right-hander before eventually striking out Josh Bell for the final out of the inning.

Senga's final line: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K on 96 pitches (58 strikes). His season ERA rose slightly to 1.26.

-Offensively, the Mets had no answers againstIrvin, who is proving to be a nemesis of theirs.

After failing to score in the first inning following two Nationals errors on the same play -- both by first baseman Nathaniel Lowe -- New York's next best scoring opportunity came in the fourth. Nimmo andVientos singled to lead things off but were soon erased on a lineout triple play by Jesse Winker.

While not a challengeable play, instant replay showed that Lowe trapped the ball instead of catching it and the play should not have resulted in three outs. Nonetheless, first base umpire and crew chief Alfonso Marquez made the call and the inning was over, resulting in manager Carlos Mendoza coming out of the dugout and giving Marquez an earful.

It was the first triple play turned on the Mets in 15 years.

-Francisco Alvarez made his return to the lineup and had a hit. He also threw out a runner trying to steal second base.

Game MVP: CJ Abrams

The leadoff hitter went 2-for-5 with two RBI and scored the game-winning run by pushing the envelope, which paid off.

Highlights

Francisco Alvarez catches his first runner stealing of the season 💪 pic.twitter.com/o37ktYcU0j

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 25, 2025

Carlos Mendoza argued extensively with first base umpire Alfonso Márquez after an apparent ground ball hit by Jesse Winker was ruled a lineout and resulted in a triple play. pic.twitter.com/7EH8tgw01s

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 25, 2025

Francisco Alvarez gets his first hit of the season pic.twitter.com/l1TQIHsAaK

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 25, 2025

Jeff McNeil makes the sliding stop! pic.twitter.com/FMAqshLx8c

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 26, 2025

Jeff McNeil gets his first hit of the season pic.twitter.com/N2ziimeAro

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 26, 2025

MARK VIENTOS CLEARS THE BASES WITH A TRIPLE! pic.twitter.com/7976caRWvO

— SNY (@SNYtv) April 26, 2025

What's next

The Mets and Nats play the second game of this four-game, wrap-around weekend series on Saturday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Clay Holmes (2-1, 3.16 ERA) goes against rookie RHP Brad Lord (0-2, 4.73 ERA).

Justin Verlander leaning on MLB experience in search of first win with Giants originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Two decades of MLB pitching experience have taught Justin Verlander a few things. High atop that list is the ability to stay calm even when things aren’t going as planned.

That’s primarily why the three-time Cy Young Award winner has maintained his confidence and focus on the positives while still looking for his first win in a Giants uniform.

Take Friday night, for example.

Coming off his best start of the year when the bullpen melted down in the ninth inning and cost the nine-time MLB All-Star a win against the Los Angeles Angels nearly a week ago, Verlander followed that up with a steady and solid effort in the Giants’ 2-0 loss to the Texas Rangers at Oracle Park.

Verlander readily admitted there still are parts to his game that he wants to clean up, but he has found plenty of reasons to stay optimistic even though the results have yet to bear out.

In some ways, Verlander believes he’s getting closer to returning to the form that made him one of MLB’s most dominant pitchers.

“It’s definitely encouraging,” Verlander told reporters in the Giants’ clubhouse. “This game can beat you down in a hurry, so you want to try to focus on positives. It’s harder to do that when the team doesn’t win.”

The Giants have won only twice in Verlander’s six starts this season and had to rally to win both times after Verlander was chased from the game.

Verlander showed signs of coming out of his funk on April 20 when he limited the Angels to two hits and one run over six innings.

Now that he followed that up with a strong outing against the Rangers, it appears the skies are opening up for Verlander and the Giants.

“Really good,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Six innings, two runs, walked one, got out of a jam when he needed to with a punch-out and the double play. Typically, that’ll win you a game. We just didn’t do much with their pitching tonight.”

That might be one of the biggest understatements of the season.

Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi handcuffed San Francisco’s offense all night. The Giants managed to get just one runner to second base, and that came off an Eovaldi wild pitch in the fifth.

Beyond that, it was pretty much bupkis at the plate.

That San Francisco was still within range to win the game at the end was largely credited to Verlander, who retired seven in a row and 13 of 15 at one point.

“Going the right direction,” Verlander said. “I would like to clean up a little bit out of the stretch. Some of the outs tonight out of the stretch were really difficult. Out of the full it felt really good. Got out-pitched tonight. Hard pill to swallow.”

That’s where Verlander’s experience as a veteran pitcher has come into play. He’s fully aware of the length of the season and the ups and downs that come along the way, thus he stays on the same straight line, win or lose.

“It does make it a bit easier,” Verlander said. “That’s what allows me to really judge myself based on what can be successful long-term versus what was one good start or not. The last couple have been much better. I think I can be quite successful pitching like that.

“I do think, being very critical of myself, there’s still some areas I would like to improve. I try not to be a perfectionist, but I also think there’s some areas, especially with my slider, I need to be a bit better.”

Verlander has slowly been moving in that direction the last few weeks. He remains 38 victories shy of joining the 300-win club, but before that, the next stop is getting that elusive first win with the Giants.

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