By the time the Mets finally rallied in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday night at Citi Field, it nearly triggered a flood of biblical proportions.
But after a 97-minute rain delay, the Mets completed a 2-1 comeback win over the last-place Nationals, as Mark Canha drove in the game-winning run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that knocked in Pete Alonso and Brooks Raley closed it in the ninth for the save.
Raley finished the game because David Robertson was in the midst of being traded to the Marlins.
Even as their season continues to slip away, with the Mets still seven games out of the final wild-card spot, they will take the win, which featured another strong outing from Kodai Senga.
“I was watching Mark during the rain delay,’’ manager Buck Showalter said. “Down the runway [in the dugout], we have a place to stay loose next to the cage and he spent the whole time in there. There’s not many other people I’d rather have up in that situation.’’
The victory for a Mets team that had lost three of four and shown no signs of getting back into the playoff race likely won’t change the organization’s mindset heading toward the trade deadline this coming Tuesday, but it was at least a sign of life at what had been a moribund Citi Field. The Mets had been shut out until the eighth against a Nationals team that had won five of six.
Senga tossed six strong innings and gave up just one run on a pair of hits, but that seemed like it might cost him and the Mets the game, as Washington right-hander Josiah Gray — an All-Star this season — blanked them before leaving after six innings.
But facing Mason Thompson in the eighth, Jeff McNeil reached with one out on a dribbler in front of the plate that he beat out for an infield hit. Alonso flared a single to center that sent McNeil to third.
Daniel Vogelbach then delivered a single to right to drive in McNeil and tie the score at 1-1. Alonso and pinch-runner Danny Mendick advanced on a wild pitch by Thompson, who then hit DJ Stewart to load the bases for Canha.
But Washington replaced Thompson with Kyle Finnegan before Canha came to the plate, and that’s when the skies opened, causing the lengthy delay.
After the stoppage of play, Canha delivered the sacrifice fly in front of the few thousand robust fans that remained.
The comeback came from nowhere, as the Mets created very little offense heading into the eighth.
With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the first, McNeil was drilled in the back for a second straight game. After he had taken a 95 mph Carlos Rodon fastball off his back on Wednesday, Gray got him with a 90 mph cutter Thursday.
Senga, coming off a rough start in Boston, retired the first six batters he faced before Corey Dickerson led off the third with a single to right. Senga stranded a pair of runners in the inning when he struck out Lane Thomas.
The Mets heard some boos when the fifth inning ended with a Francisco Lindor strikeout that turned into a double play when Nimmo was caught stealing.
The Nationals loaded the bases against Senga again in the sixth, this time with one out.
Keibert Ruiz delivered a sacrifice fly to drive in the first run of the night and Senga then hit ex-Met Dominic Smith with a pitch in the ankle to fill the bases for the second time in the inning.
But he got Dickerson to fly out to keep it a one-run game.
