WASHINGTON — It is hard to draw any conclusions after four games. That is merely 2.5 percent of the 162-game regular season, so please read the next sentence with that in mind. The Mets are one of the best teams in Major League Baseball.

On Sunday afternoon, they had a chance to become the first team in M.L.B. to reach four wins. On a home run by shortstop Francisco Lindor and a go-ahead single by outfielder Mark Canha, the Mets took a one-run lead over the Nationals in the fourth inning. But after some miscues on the mound by Mets relief pitchers and in the field by first baseman Pete Alonso, they lost, 4-2, to rebuilding Washington at Nationals Park for their first defeat of the season.

“It’s good to win the first series of the year, but dropping this one late kind of stinks, especially for me,” Alonso said. “I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to go out there and let anyone down, especially not anyone in the locker room. After not making the play there, I let the team down.”