Lile's inside-the-park homer stuns Mets in 11th (updated)

NEW YORK – The Nationals looked defeated, having just squandered Cade Cavalli’s five scoreless innings when Jose A. Ferrer surrendered three runs in search of a six-out save that was not to be. Citi Field was rocking, the Mets just needed to push across one more run to move one step closer to a playoff berth and the Nats were out of reliable relievers.

And then Daylen Lile decided to step up and turn an already remarkable September into something even more remarkable.

With an 11th-inning inside-the-park home run, Lile gave the Nationals the lead back in stunning fashion, then watched as PJ Poulin finished it off in the bottom of the inning for a most unlikely 5-3 victory to deal the Mets’ playoff hopes a serious blow.

"I keep saying it, but this team has a lot of fight in it," Lile said. "We're young. And I feel like we're opening a lot of eyes."

Lile, who on Friday night tied the club’s single-season record with his 11th triple, ripped a line drive off the wall in deep left-center off sidearm reliever Tyler Rogers. That guaranteed automatic runner Andres Chaparro would score the go-ahead run, and it seemed to guarantee Lile had just broken Denard Span’s triples record set in 2013.

Except Lile wasn’t in search of that record. He wanted to go the distance.

"Yeah, not at all," the 22-year-old said with a laugh. "Home runs are a lot better, for sure. I will say that."

So Lile - who believes he hadn't hit an inside-the-park homer since travel ball - kept running around third, deciding on his own he was going to go for it - though third base coach Ricky Gutierrez was on the same page and was furiously waving him around - and somehow slid across the plate with his first career inside-the-park homer as a sellout crowd of 43,412 watched in disbelief.

"He can fly," interim manager Miguel Cairo said. "When he gets to second gear, it's like he can fly. And you saw it today. It was awesome to see."

It has required a late charge –  seven triples, four homers, 13 RBIs and an 1.178 OPS in 19 games so far in September – but Lile has thrust himself into serious consideration for National League Rookie of the Year honors. His .814 OPS is tops among all NL rookies with at least 300 plate appearances, and he has now surpassed James Wood (.807) for the team lead in that department.

"It's awesome," he said. "It really shows the work that I've been putting in has been working. I have the help of the coaches, my teammates. They're holding me accountable. And I credit them, too, because they see something that I probably don't when it comes to my ability. I appreciate every single person in this locker room, and the coaches, too."

After Lile's highlight-reel moment, Poulin then recorded three outs in the bottom of the 11th, striking out Juan Soto (who homered off him Friday night) with a well-placed fastball on the outside corner to finish it off and earn his first career save.

"I obviously had the tough one last night, but it felt good to come back tonight and be able to do it," the rookie left-hander said. "He's a really good hitter, and you can't make mistakes. I wanted to be convicted and really focus and execute, especially with him."

All this came after Cavalli tossed five scoreless innings on 76 pitches, the rookie right-hander more than holding his own against New York’s big boppers. In his ninth big league start following 2 1/2 years of rehab from Tommy John surgery, Cavalli further established his credentials as a big part of the Nats’ future rotation plans.

But because the club has been limiting Cavalli to five innings per start in September, an equally effective performance was needed from the bullpen to close out this game. That was too much to ask.

After a scoreless inning a piece from Konnor Pilkington and Clayton Beeter, Cairo stuck with his recent philosophy and used his closer in the eighth against the heart of the Mets lineup. Ferrer, who hadn’t pitched in four days, surrendered back-to-back, two-out doubles to Starling Marte and Mark Vientos to cut the Nationals’ lead from 3-0 to 3-2. The left-hander bounced back to strike out Francisco Alvarez, but it took 22 pitches just to record those three outs.

Nevertheless, Cairo sent Ferrer back out for the ninth. He immediately gave up a leadoff single to Luis Torrens. After Cedric Mullins sacrificed the tying run into scoring position, Ferrer hit Francisco Lindor in the foot with an errant 0-2 slider, bringing Soto to the plate. The former Nats superstar fell behind in the count, 0-2, but managed to deliver a jam-shot RBI single to center on a 100-mph fastball to tie the game.

"It was difficult. I thought I had the out there," Ferrer said, via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "I was going for a ground ball. It made the game a little more difficult, but we were able to get out of it."

Indeed, Ferrer ultimately was able to strike out Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte to leave the bases loaded and the game tied, but it took him a career-high 43 pitches to do that. And that still left his teammates needing to find a way to win in extra innings.

"I asked him if he was fine, and he said: 'Yes, I want to go back there,'" Cairo said. "And of course, that was very stressful for me. I don't really want to hurt any arms. I want make sure he's healthy; that's most important. But he said he was fine."

The Nationals' lineup could not score their automatic runner in the 10th against Mets closer Edwin Diaz. Neither could New York, which stranded him at third base after recently promoted reliever Sauryn Lao induced a double play grounder and a fly ball to left to wriggle out of the jam, pounding his glove in celebration as he hopped off the mound.

And then Lile did his thing in the 11th to make this a happy Saturday after all for the Nats, with Lao credited with his first career win and Poulin credited with his first career save.

"We can see it, kind of, when it gets to the outfield," Poulin said of the bullpen's vantage point for Lile's game-winning moment. "But once it clears our vision there, I can't really see when it bounced off the wall and ricocheted. But I can see him moving around those bases. That was really cool."

Cavalli had already pitched in a couple of tough environments, including Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, but this assignment had to be his most daunting yet. With a full house of 43,412 packed into Citi Field and the home team again needing to win to maintain its two-game lead over the Reds for the final wild card berth in the National League, there was far more at stake this afternoon than in any of the 27-year-old rookie’s previous big league starts.

You wouldn’t have known it by Cavalli’s presence or performance. Calm and in control throughout, he looked every bit ready to meet the moment.

And his five scoreless innings were hardly a cakewalk. The Mets not only put runners on base in four of those five innings, they put runners in scoring position in each of those frames, forcing Cavalli to come up big in big moments.

Which he did. After a two-out double by Pete Alonso in the first, he got Nimmo to foul out to third base. With two on and one out in the second, he got Brett Baty to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. And with two on and one out in the third, he watched as second baseman Nasim Nuñez made a spectacular catch of Alonso’s popup in shallow right field and then another nice play on Nimmo’s grounder up the middle.

Cavalli saved perhaps his biggest moment for last, though. With two on and two out in the fifth, he had to face Alonso for the third time in the game. With Pilkington warming in the bullpen and likely to be summoned to face Nimmo if the inning continued, Cavalli reached back and won a six-pitch battle with the New York slugger, getting him to fly out to right to end the inning and his start.

"It was attack and execute," the right-hander said. "It's a simple game plan, but I take it to heart. When I'm out there, it's just: See the glove, go execute. I don't really hear the environment."

Cavalli returned to the dugout to high-fives following his third scoreless start in the big leagues. His ERA through nine games is a respectable 4.23. Throw out his one dud against the Yankees, and that number drops to 2.98.

And unlike some others on the Nationals staff who haven’t been able to buy any run support, Cavalli has been the beneficiary of enough to put him in position to win far more games than he’s lost.

The Nationals scored early for him today, plating a run in the top of the first and two more in the top of the second against Mets rookie Nolan McLean. They did so with quality at-bats, contact and some notable help from New York’s shaky defense.

James Wood got the ball rolling from the outset by drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second, taking third on Josh Bell’s single and then scoring on Lile’s fielder’s choice for a 1-0 lead. Wood, who did strike out once to bring himself to within 10 of Mark Reynolds’ single-season, major league record of 223, drew another walk in the fifth.

The two-run rally in the second featured two singles (one of which didn’t even leave the infield) and then a flurry of Mets mistakes. Alonso was charged with an error when he flipped high to his pitcher covering first on Brady House’s grounder to the right side. Soto was charged with an error when he let Riley Adams’ single to right get under his glove and roll to the wall as Dylan Crews scored from first and Adams made it all the way to third. And then Adams scored on McLean’s wild pitch, completing an unusual-but-effective rally that gave the Nats a 3-0 lead.

Who knew how much more was still to come in this wild affair?

"I'll tell you what: That was one of the most amazing games I've been with," Cairo said. "This year, with these guys, they never give up. Lile is beyond believable. The bullpen is amazing. They're warriors, man. They didn't give up. They came back, and we came back. And we got the W. That was one of the most stressful games I've ever been in."