More reactions from a crazy win over the Mets

When we look back on it days, weeks, months, even years from now, Friday night’s 5-4 win over the Mets may seem like just an ordinary divisional victory for the Nationals. But those who watched and lived it know it was so much more.

After a 3-0 lead vanished in the eighth inning, what had started as a positive night had suddenly turned a heartbreaking one with the Nats down by one run with only six outs to go.

But the Nationals prevailed with a ninth-inning rally, thanks in large part to the bottom of the order and the team’s young stars. It was all capped off by the first walk-off hit of James Wood’s young career.

So much happened last night, it couldn’t possibly be processed in one post. Let’s take some time to revisit some of the finer points of the Nats’ best win of the season to date …

Jake Irvin shows toughness in strong start
Although it is easy to forget, we should remember that the Nats almost lost their starting pitcher to injury two batters into the game.

Irvin got ahead 0-2 against Juan Soto in the top of the first, but eventually ran the count full. Soto hit a ball to Nathaniel Lowe, who couldn't field it cleanly and tossed it to Irvin at first.

The ball got away with Soto running through Irvin’s outstretched left arm and advancing to second on two errors by Lowe. Irvin immediately shook his arm, bringing out the Nats' trainers and manager Davey Martinez.

“It was kind of like a stinger for a couple innings,” Irvin said after the game. “Hand felt a little bit weird, and I don't know if that was because something that happened to the elbow or shoulder. I don't know, but it feels good now.”

“It's a very awkward play,” Martinez said. “Tough when your arm bends back like that. We got scared because I've seen a lot of guys really get hurt with that play. We gave him a few extra minutes just to, kind of, you know, he said his arm went numb for a minute there. But then he came back out, and that's two times he gave us a scare this year already. Then what he did after that was unbelievable.”

What Irvin did after that was 7 ⅓ innings of one-run ball. The lone run came in the troublesome eighth inning, which means the right-hander had a stretch of 15 consecutive scoreless innings against the Mets at home dating back to his dominant start against them on the Fourth of July last year.

Oh, and he also got drilled by a comebacker two innings later. But the Minnesota native and hockey fanatic was able to shake that off, too.

The controversial triple play
It can’t be taken away now. It will forever be in the record books as the Nationals’ third triple play in club history and first at home. But Lowe seems to have gotten a little lucky in the fourth inning.

On replay, Jesse Winker’s 107 mph scorcher seemed to have barely skipped off the dirt before landing in Lowe’s glove. But first base umpire and crew chief Alfonso Márquez, who was behind the play, ruled it a clean catch for an out, allowing Lowe to proceed to throw to CJ Abrams at second for the second and third outs. Abrams then threw the ball back to Lowe at first for good measure.

By rule, fly balls and line drives in the infield are not reviewable, so another umpire would have to overturn Márquez’s original call, much to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza’s chagrin.

“That they had a catch. It was a line drive in the infield and was not reviewable,” Mendoza told reporters of the explanation given to him. “Frustrating, obviously, because we all saw what happened. And I'm not blaming Alfonso, because he's the one behind the play. But the other three, someone's got to see that play. A tough break for us there.”

Luckily for Lowe, none of the other three umps got a good look at it. What did he think when seeing the replay after the game?

“I looked pretty good out there,” he said with a grin.

“I was late getting over, so we were screwed if that ball hit the ground,” Irvin said. “I actually didn't really know what was happening, because it just all happened so quick. But I heard Nate yell, 'I got it, give me that.’ And I figured that he had caught the ball, and the rest is history.”

“I hoped that he caught it,” Martinez said with a laugh. “We got out of it. It was awesome.”

What is still up for debate is how to score the triple play. It was originally scored a 3-6-3 triple play, only to be later changed by the official scorer to 3-6, crediting Abrams with two putouts.

All I know is it was three outs at a crucial part of the game.

The bottom of the lineup comes up clutch
Yes, Abrams and Wood teamed up for the game-winning play as the top two hitters in the lineup. But up until that walk-off moment, it had been the bottom three hitters that had driven the Nats' offense.

Dylan Crews, José Tena and Jacob Young combined to go 7-for-11 with four runs scored and two RBIs. Those runs may not have been as exciting in the moment, but they were every bit as important in the end.

“Really good. They manufactured some runs. They played good,” Martinez said. “Tena's playing really well. We talked about him earlier. He's swinging the bat, but he's playing really good defense over there. He had some nice plays today for us, so he's doing well.”

A big win for a young team
Again, this was only one win in late April. It was only the 26th game of a 162-game season. But the Nationals go on to accomplish more than many people expected this season, we could be pointing to this victory as the moment things started to change for this team.

Here’s a smattering of quotes from players on the significance of a win like this:

“It can do a ton,” Irvin said. “We're playing against a division rival and a team that's up at the top right now. We're just trying to do our best to stay in that game, no matter what it takes. But to win it, to start the series off on the right foot, it's massive. And just props to hitters for freaking grinding at-bats. That was awesome.”

“I think we know what we're capable of,” Wood said. “And I feel like the past two series, we've been playing very well. It's just a good start to another series.”

“That was great. It should instill a lot of belief in this group,” Lowe said. “To understand, like, it's a premier back-end guy that we just be there in the ninth. And then, we did a good job staying in it the whole way through, especially with the back-and-forth bounces. It was a pretty deflating eighth inning. But we did a good job. We didn't let it get out of hand, and we bounced back and played a great one tonight.”

“It's big. We've been balling and gonna keep things going,” Abrams said. “The Mets (are) a good team, so just to go out there and beat them shows you what we can do.”

“Overall, I think the little things in this game, we did a great job of that today,” Crews said. “That's a playoff team right there, so I think we held our own pretty well. But we gotta put this one in the past and move forward for tomorrow.”

“This is a big win,” Martinez said. “This is definitely a big moment for a young team like ours. It's awesome. So let's enjoy tonight and come back tomorrow and do it again.”