NEW YORK — The Mets clawed back late Saturday night — only to watch two outfield blunders undo it all against the last-place Washington Nationals.

The Mets’ 5-3 loss to the on Saturday can be chalked up to a pair of misplays in the outfield. One by right fielder Juan Soto in the second inning and another by center fielder Cedric Mullins in extras.

While Mullins’ misplay in the 11th inning will be freshest on people’s minds, Soto is the only Mets outfielder who walked away with a true error.

His play occurred when Nationals catcher Riley Adams lined what should have been a one-hop single to Soto in right. Instead of securing the ball, Soto took his eye off it, allowing it to bounce past him all the way to the wall.

This allowed a run to score from first, and Adams to end up on third with no outs.

“We’ve been inconsistent,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We go through stretches where we make plays, we play clean, and then we’ve been through stretches where that happens.”

After the Mets came back from being down 3-0 in the eighth and ninth innings, they found themselves in a one-out situation with a runner on first in the 11th inning.

Nationals DH Daylen Lile lined a sinker to center field, which Mullins misread. The ball sailed past Mullins, crashing into the corner and rolling away from him, towards right field.

Lile wasted no time, running the bases at record speed. He made it from home-to-home in 14.86 seconds, a Nationals record, according to MLB stats guru Sarah Langs.

“It’s just more or less an instinctive type play, just do what you can,” Mullins explained after the game. “I knew what I was trying to do there, just didn’t execute it.”

“It’s a tough one there,” Mendoza said about Mullins’s play after the game, “but once you realize that you have no chance on that play, maybe you give yourself a better chance to play it off the wall.”

The Mets’ series against the Nationals has been mired in misplays and errors. Through two games, both teams have combined for eight errors.

On Saturday, the Nationals took advantage of the Mets’ poor play to come away with a win. It could cost the Mets, who are holding on to the third NL Wild Card spot by just one game over the Cincinnati Reds, with seven games left in the regular season.