Fancy footwork: Young's spectacular catches in center lead Nationals past Mets

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NEW YORK (AP) — Washington Nationals center fielder Jacob Young made one of the best catches of the season Sunday at Citi Field.

Then he made an even bigger one four innings later.

Young helped send the skidding New York Mets to another costly defeat by making a pair of sensational grabs to prevent extra-base hits as the Nationals hung on for a 3-2 win.

“He looked like the world’s greatest outfielder that’s ever played the game today,” Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo said.

With the Mets down 3-1, Brett Baty led off the fifth inning with a long fly to center against Jake Irvin. Young raced back and got twisted around a bit with the ball tailing back over his head.

He turned his body and leaped at the wall, but the ball was jarred out of his glove when he hit the fence. As the ball was falling toward the ground, a stumbling Young kicked it back up into the air — hacky-sack style — and gloved it a second time for a circus catch.

“When you kick the ball, it rarely comes back up to you,” said Nimmo, who has played 550 games in center for the Mets. “So that’s like a one-in-10 million kind of play.”

Said Baty: “For him to have the sense to not let the ball touch the wall and kick it up into the air to himself — I mean, it is one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.”

Young laughed and said he relied on his experience as a youth soccer player.

“I tried to kick it — I think more instinctively than actually trying,” he said. “I give credit to my AAU youth soccer coach.”

Francisco Lindor’s homer leading off the sixth pulled the Mets to 3-2, but they left four runners on between the sixth and eighth before Francisco Alvarez led off the ninth with another long drive to left-center against Mitchell Parker.

Young, playing no-doubles defense, ranged back and leaped on the warning track. He snared the ball as he reached just over the wall and held on as he landed.

“The circus one, I don’t think I could ever try or ever do again,” Young said. “But when you’re in a game like this, in a playoff-like environment, you never know when the big play’s going to happen. So, try to stay focused.”

The 26-year-old looked at his glove, pumped his right fist and did a little jig as he jogged a few steps forward.

Young, who ranked sixth in the National League in defensive WAR last season and has not committed an error in 269 chances this year, said the ninth-inning catch ranks among his favorites.

“It’s up there — ninth-inning robbery just to keep the (team) up is definitely up there,” he said. “Just to have the team have a moment like that in a place like this — nothing better than quieting 40,000 people. It never gets old.”

Parker retired the next two batters to hand the Mets their 11th loss in 15 games. New York fell out of a playoff spot for the first time since April 5 a little more than 30 minutes later when the Cincinnati Reds finished off a 1-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

The Mets and Reds are tied for the final NL wild card with six games remaining, but Cincinnati holds the tiebreaker.

“They were all just incredible plays,” Nimmo said. “And sometimes that’s the way it goes.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB