WASHINGTON _ In one inning, Robinson Chirinos launched his first home-run of the season, a two-run blast, to give the Mets the lead.
In the next, he sprinted and dived _ well, stumbled _ headfirst for a two-out infield hit that scored another run.
These are the types of plays, with the type of effort, it will require for the Mets to make the postseason (which is still extremely unlikely). They need standout performances from their regulars and unlikely sources, and a ton of good fortune.
They faced potential elimination with a loss _ as they will the rest of the way _ but Thursday's 3-2 victory over Washington at Nationals Park pushed that conversation back at least one day.
Before the Mets (26-31) had even won, the Giants lost, which is good for New York. The Mets also need the Marlins to lose (though they and the Braves were in a rain delay for most of the Mets' game).
The Mets must sweep the Nationals in this four-game set, the final regular-season series of 2020, to have a chance at making the postseason. In all honesty, to have had a legitimate shot, they needed to win every game this week.
That did not happen.
New York's latest victory most likely only delays the inevitable.
Regardless, the Mets have lived to fight into the final weekend of this season. They aren't dead just yet.
Still, they will need a miracle _ and then some _ to avoid sitting out October for the fourth consecutive season.
When the Mets acquired Chirinos at the Aug. 31 deadline, general manager Brodie Van Wagenen said the team believed the catcher could turn around his season at the plate and showcase some of the pop in his bat he'd been known to have throughout his career.
It has not happened.
Entering Thursday, he had only five hits in 25 at-bats with the Mets. He's received praise for the way he calls a game behind the plate, but he hasn't given the Mets the offensive production they had hoped for to give their lineup a boost.
Considering the circumstances, Thursday marked Chirinos' best game as a Met. Sure, the team almost certainly won't make the playoffs, but without Chirinos, it might have been playing three meaningless games this weekend.
Their catcher, who has taken playing time from Wilson Ramos, drove in all three of the club's runs.
With New York down a run in the fifth, Chirinos' two-run shot off Patrick Corbin gave the team a lead it didn't relinquish.
The play that said a lot about him occurred in the next inning.
Robinson Cano led off the inning with a veteran move, realizing the Nationals were shifted to the right and laying down a bunt down the third-base line _ in no-man's land. Minutes later, with Cano at third, Chirinos grounded a ball toward second base. But because of a weird Washington shift, the first baseman ran all the way over to grab it.
Meanwhile, no one had covered first. Corbin ran off the mound to do so and caught the throw from his first baseman, but Chirinos dove and tumbled into first _ sliding his hand across the bag. Because of his effort, Cano scored to give the Mets a two-run lead.
In Chirinos, the Mets received production _ and energy _ from an unlikely source.
When the Mets called up David Peterson for the fifth game of the season, a weekday contest in Boston, they couldn't have expected what the next two months would look like.
They called him up to fill the injured Marcus Stroman's rotation spot, not knowing Stroman would soon opt out. They didn't know their starting pitching offseason acquisitions, Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha, would disappoint. They didn't expect Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman to move from the bullpen to the rotation.
After two months, you could make the case Peterson was the team's second-best starter behind ace Jacob deGrom.
Peterson spent time on the injured list. He even pitched out of the bullpen. Regardless, he stabilized the starting rotation.
On Thursday, his final start of the regular season, the rookie allowed a run over seven innings. The Nationals only collected four hits off Peterson, who struck out four.
In Peterson's last start, he struck out a career-high 10 batters. In this one, he went seven innings for the first time in his career (he had thrown six frames twice before this).
He finishes the season (presumably) with a 3.44 ERA.
Looking back, you wonder where the Mets would have been without Peterson. They pieced together their rotation week to week _ you're probably tired of seeing "TBD" _ but Peterson almost always gave them a solid outing.
The left-hander has earned the right to have, at the very least, the inside track on a spot in the 2021 rotation. Of course, that depends on free agent signings and other acquisitions, but Peterson has pitched that well.
In 2020, even with all the disappointment, the Mets saw one of their prospects prove he belongs at this level.
.png?w=600)
