CJ Abrams Just Broke the Mets' Heart Again, and New York's Nightmare Keeps Getting Worse

The Mets are drowning, and Washington just held them underwater one more time. CJ Abrams ripped a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning Thursday afternoon as the Nationals rallied past New York 5-4 at Citi Field, extending a genuinely horrifying skid that has the entire franchise in freefall.

Here's how ugly it got for the Mets: they've now lost 17 of their last 20 games. That includes a brutal 12-game losing streak. And while the pitching staff has been getting shredded, the injury list keeps growing. Francisco Lindor and Luis Robert Jr. are both out, and New York has been outscored 106-53 across this entire nightmare stretch. You want to know what that looks like? The Mets have given up nearly twice as many runs as they've scored. That's not a slump. That's a collapse.

Abrams Does Abrams Things, and Nationals Take What They Need

The Nationals came in hungry after already taking the series lead earlier in the week. They've beaten the Mets six times in their last nine meetings, and Thursday was more of the same. Abrams, who finished the afternoon with three RBIs, kept his hot streak alive with a 403-foot missile off Luke Weaver's 2-1 changeup. It was his sixth hit in 11 at-bats across the series, and it turned what looked like another Mets loss into certainty.

Washington had spotty early success. They jumped to a three-run lead in the second after Freddy Peralta's three-base throwing error on a comebacker scored Jorbit Vivas from first. Jacob Young added an RBI single with two outs. But New York clawed back. MJ Melendez tied it with a three-run blast off Miles Mikolas in the third, then Mark Vientos went up 4-3 with an RBI-double to the warning track in the sixth. The Nationals' bats answered before Abrams put it away.

Defense Decides It, But Not Enough For New York

Right fielder James Wood was a bright spot for Washington's defense. He made a leaping catch with his glove stuck over the fence in the first to rob a homer, then charged in for a diving grab on a sinking liner in the fifth. Those plays mattered, but not enough to save the Mets from themselves.

Peralta took the loss after six innings, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out six. Mikolas was tagged for three runs in four innings. Mitchell Parker and former Mets lefty Richard Lovelady did the heavy lifting out of the bullpen, and Gus Varland picked up his third save by striking out Ronny Mauricio in the ninth on an eight-pitch at-bat.

The Nationals improved to 4-1 over their last five and are proving to be New York's nightmare fuel. The Mets? They're running out of time to fix this.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.