James Wood gets Nationals on the board with inside-the-park Grand Slam vs. Mets

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.

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 then got the Natioanls on base with a two-out double. McLean then 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 then made McLean pay for putting the bottom third of the Washington order on base. 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 with his leaping effort at the wall.

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.

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

Wood slid in safely well before the off-target relay throw approached home. And Wood cut New York’s lead to 5-4 with a Little League grand slam, his 13th home run of the season.

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

As for Morabito, he didn’t let the misplay in the outfield in his second MLB inning keep him down. He followed up with a sensational catch in 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.