The New York Mets held a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning of their game against the rival Washington Nationals on Tuesday night when rookie Mets outfielder Nick Morabito, who was making his MLB debut, tracked a ball hit by Nationals slugger James Wood with the bases loaded. 

Morabito previously made a nice play to record an out in left field, but disaster struck the Mets when the ball crushed by Wood hit off Morabito's glove and then rolled toward center field. By the time New York's Tyrone Taylor collected the ball, Wood was well on his way toward completing his journey around the bases for a remarkable inside-the-park grand slam that sparked a Washington rally. Following the Mets' 9-6 loss to the Nationals, Morabito spoke about what went wrong on that game-changing play.

Nick Morabito felt he "should have" caught what became an inside-the-park grand slam

"He hit it pretty hard," Morabito said about Wood's shot, per Phillip Martinez of SNY. "Went back, and just missed it. Hit the palm of my hand. Should have had it."

Morabito's back slammed into the wall as the ball hit his glove, so one can only blame him so much for not making what would have gone down as a highlight-reel catch. As for Taylor, he curiously did not react quickly enough in going after the ball once it bounced away from the two outfielders. 

"He lost track of the baseball," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said about Taylor's lack of a reaction. "He went after and didn’t know where the ball was. Yeah, that’s a tough break there."

Carlos Mendoza calls the Mets out for defensive miscues

The grand slam was one of multiple rough moments Mets players experienced in the field on Tuesday. New York entered Wednesday having committed four errors over its last four games, two of which occurred on Tuesday. 

"Not good, past four days or so," Mendoza said about the Mets defense. "Making errors on routine plays. We’re a good team defensively. We showed that... But we’re in a stretch where we have to clean it up."

The last-place Mets can't afford to give any games away in their attempt to save what some already believe is a lost season for the franchise. New York will try to clean things up defensively for Wednesday's matchup at the Nationals (24-25).