Murphy received warmly in return to Citi Field

NEW YORK — Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy once called Citi Field home. For most of his seven years in the Big Apple, he was the Mets’ everyday second baseman.

But when Murphy arrived at Citi Field on Tuesday afternoon, he found it strange going into the visitors’ clubhouse. He had only been in there once, and that was a couple of years ago for a fantasy football draft held by Mets third baseman David Wright.

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Murphy quickly made his presence felt in Tuesday night’s 2-0 loss, when he made a nice defensive play to help save a run and end the first inning. In the second, he received a rousing ovation from the crowd before his first at-bat, during which he popped out to third. He finished 1-for-3 with a single.

In the eighth, Murphy took a bad throw from third baseman Anthony Rendon, stepped on second and made a determined throw to first base to try to complete a double play on Asdrubal Cabrera’s grounder. It took a crew-chief review to overturn a safe call and ensure Murphy’s effort wouldn’t go for naught.

Before the game, the Mets played a nice montage on the scoreboard of his career in New York, and he received a warm ovation from the crowd afterward as well.

Asked how he felt about the ovations, Murphy said, “It was really nice. It was very nice of the organization to play that video …

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