James Wood gets Nationals on the board with inside-the-park grand slam vs. Mets

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS

This week’s series between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets has seen some wild offensive action.

On Monday, the Mets exploded for 10 runs in the 12th inning to surge ahead for a 16-7 win. The 10 runs were the most in a single extra-innings frame in MLB since 1983.

On Tuesday, the Mets got their scoring started early, with five runs in the first two innings. The Nationals responded to cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the second with — what else? — an inside-the-park grand slam.

Two-out double leads to wild grand slam

The inning started strong enough for New York’s rookie standout starter, Nolan McLean, who got the first two outs without allowing a baserunner.

Jorbit Vivas got the Nationals on base with a two-out double. Then McLean hit Drew Millas with a pitch to put two runners on, and nine-hole hitter Nasim Nuñez loaded the bases with an infield single.

Wood made McLean pay for putting the bottom third of the Washington order on base when he launched a 1-1 sweeper deep to left-center field.

It didn’t have quite enough juice to clear the wall. But left fielder Nick Morabito — making his MLB debut — couldn’t hang on to the ball in his leaping effort.

The ball bounced off his glove and caromed into center field. Tyrone Taylor, who also gave chase from center field, apparently didn’t see the ball bounce away and just stared at Morabito after he fell to the warning track.

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When the broadcast returned its attention to the outfield, both were giving chase as the ball rolled away. By the time Taylor reached it and made a throw, three runs had scored and Wood was rounding third.

Wood slid in safely well before the off-target relay throw approached home. That cut New York’s lead to 5-4 and marked Wood’s 13th home run of the season.

The inside-the-park grand slam, remarkably, wasn’t the first of this MLB season. Rookie St. Louis Cardinals standout JJ Wetherholt hit one in a win over the San Diego Padres earlier this month.

As for Morabito, he didn’t let the misplay in the outfield in his second MLB inning keep him down. He followed it with a sensational catch in the very next inning on a foul ball into the front row of the third-base stands.

Unfortunately for the Mets, the catch allowed Daylen Lile to tag up from third base on the one-out catch and extend Washington’s lead to 7-5.