Washington Nationals left fielder Juan Soto looks into the New York Mets dugout while rounding the bases after hitting a home run during the ninth inning of Thursday's game at Nationals Park. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Nationals' baserunning blunders lead to ridiculous 'double play'

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated 5/12/22

The Washington Nationals made a remarkable series of baserunning blunders in Thursday’s game that led to one of the more ridiculous pseudo-double plays anyone will see.

The Nationals had a runner at second base with nobody out Thursday against the New York Mets, a seemingly safe situation to avoid two outs on one play. Josh Bell hit a routine ground ball to third, but Juan Soto tried to advance from second on the play. This ill-advised decision led to him getting tagged out. While Soto got himself in a rundown, Bell tried to take second, and seemed to have it when Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor threw the ball into right field.

Then Bell got greedy, trying to take third on the bad throw. He was promptly thrown out as the Mets recovered quickly.

One of the most ridiculous double plays you will see

"Horrendous baserunning by the Nationals" pic.twitter.com/CuM09Z1Wi2

— SNY (@SNYtv) May 12, 2022

Note that this is not technically a double play, since there was a lot of action between the two outs. That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing or ugly from Washington’s perspective.

The Nationals are 11-22 and heading for a lost season, and plays like this are why. This was arguably even worse than this ugly effort from the American League earlier in the season.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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