The disastrous inning that sunk any hopes of a Mets’ comeback

The Mets were within reach of closing the two-run gap the Nationals had over them, until an eventful sixth inning Tuesday night.

Right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis, in relief of Jose Butto, started the inning with a strikeout of CJ Abrams.

But things quickly went downhill, turning into a three-run inning as the Nationals rolled to a 5-0 win at Citi Field.

Victor Robles lined a single to right field and was pushed to third base by a grounder up the middle that Luis Guillorme could have fielded had he seen it.

Guillorme went right as the ball whipped by on his left, giving Alex Call a single.

“Honestly, I didn’t see the ball off the bat whatsoever. I had no idea where it was. All I could do was read the swing and it looked like a pull swing and the ball went the other way. I couldn’t see it whatsoever until it got through me,” Guillorme said.

Guillorme wore a look of confusion and frustration, shaking his head and raising his arms for what was a missed double-play and an opportunity to end the inning.

“I hate plays like that,” he said. “I hate not picking up my pitchers, I mean it cost him a couple extra pitches and a couple of runs. Cost the team there, so for me that’s what I take pride in and take pride in my defense and when stuff like that happens, I’m not happy about it.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened to Guillorme; it’s happened “a couple of times” Mets manager Buck Showalter said.

“Sometimes you can’t make everything dark back in that area,” he said. “Going to look at it and see.”

Following the missed play with two men on and one out, Luis Garcia checked his swing on what Showalter believed should have been a third strike.

Garcia took advantage, doubling to center, driving in two and extending the Mets’ deficit to four.

After Jeimer Candelario struck out, Joey Meneses knocked in Garcia with a single to center to cap the scoring.