WASHINGTON — The charade is nearly finished.
After weeks of wanting to believe they still were playing meaningful games, the Mets can forget all talk that pertains to something special occurring in 2014, beyond the continued development of young players.
As Bryce Harper’s shot into the left-field bullpen in Thursday’s 13th inning at Nationals Park was making its final descent, so too was the Mets’ season.
“To win in the division is crucial, especially with the position we’re in,” David Wright said after Harper’s two-run homer off Carlos Torres gave the Nationals a 5-3 victory in the 13th.
“We’re fighting like heck to get back to .500, and you come in here and win the first game feeling pretty good about yourself and drop the next two, that’s not how we played it out in our minds for sure.”
The Mets (54-61) lost for the fifth time in seven games and fell nine lengths behind the NL East-leading Nationals. The wild-card race also remains a pipe dream, with the lowly Padres now on the Mets’ heels for the seventh position.
As is usually the case in defeat, the Mets’ bats failed to deliver. Included was an 0-for-18 stretch beginning in the seventh inning, until Wright doubled with two outs in the 13th. But Craig Stammen (2-4) escaped before Torres walked Ian Desmond leading off the bottom of the inning then surrendered the bomb to the struggling Harper, who entered play batting just .250 with three homers and 14 RBIs.
“This was a huge game for us,” Torres said. “We needed to beat this team in our division and costing us games by leaving home runs out there is not something I want to do. These guys played their hearts out today.”
The Mets walked a tightrope three times with the score tied before Harper ended it. Jenrry Mejia struck out Adam LaRoche with the winning run at third base in the 12th, and an inning earlier Jose Lobaton hit a shot to left-center, but Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ diving catch deprived the Nationals of the potential game-ending hit.
Dana Eveland escaped a jam in the ninth, retiring Denard Span with the winning run on second base. Jeurys Familia had allowed a hit and walk in the inning, but got two outs before the lefty Eveland was summoned.
Jacob DeGrom lasted six innings and surrendered three earned runs on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts. It was the first time since July 2 against Atlanta that deGrom allowed as many as three earned runs.
Curtis Granderson’s RBI single in the seventh off Drew Storen gave the Mets their second run in the inning, tying the game at 3-3 after Jordan Zimmermann had frustrated the Mets for 6 ¹/₃ innings.
“You’re facing one of the best pitchers in baseball, and you get back in the game, you kind of have a big lift,” manager Terry Collins said. “We just couldn’t mount anything after that.”
Daniel Murphy’s RBI double against Zimmermann in the third had pulled the Mets within 2-1.
But the Nationals got the run back in the fourth when Desmond delivered a run-scoring single for his third RBI of the game. It didn’t help that Eric Young Jr. cut in front of strong-armed Juan Lagares to retrieve the ball then made a lob throw to the infield. LaRoche kept running on the play and scored easily.
Desmond’s two-run homer in the second put the Mets in a 2-0 hole. The blast was the first allowed by deGrom since June 5, when Travis Wood homered against the rookie at Wrigley Field.
“I was throwing strikes, but I wasn’t really locating as well as I wanted to,” deGrom said. “It was kind of a mental battle today. I kept us in the ballgame and we tied it up, and just didn’t win it in the end.”