Just when it looked like the Mets‘ luck was about to turn, the reliever that had been so reliable through the first six weeks of the season gave up the biggest hit of the game.
San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey‘s eighth-inning grand slam off right-hander Reed Garrett doomed the Mets to an 8-7 loss, their fourth in a row, Friday night at Citi Field. With two outs and the Mets up 6-3, Garrett (5-2) fell behind on Bailey and left a fastball over the plate. The second-year catcher connected and dumped the ball into the visitor’s bullpen in right-center field.
Down 8-6, the Mets rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth. They capitalized on sloppy play by the Giants (26-26) to cut the deficit to one run and load the bases on closer Camilo Doval (nine saves). But Mark Vientos chopped one to third base and Matt Chapman made the out to end the game.
“We’re angry,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Obviously, we’re angry. Guys are going to be pissed. But at the same time, you have to stay positive. You’ve got to keep going.”
The Mets hit three home runs for the third game in a row and still lost, becoming just the fourth team in the Wild Card era and the fifth team in league history to do so. The Arizona Diamondbacks last did it in September 2012. Vientos, J.D. Martinez and Pete Alonso all homered, with Alonso and Vientos homering for the second straight game.
The loss dropped the Mets to a season-worst eight games under .500 (21-29), but they don’t feel like the season is getting away from them.
“Not yet,” said outfielder Brandon Nimmo. “Not to me. I mean, you could probably make an argument somewhere, but to me in here, we still have time left.”
The Mets pointed out the ninth inning as a reason for positivity and the fact that Citi Field becomes a more hitter-friendly park in the summer. But if pitchers can’t keep the ball in the park, they’ll only end up playing more games like this.
“We put together a great fight there at the end,” Garrett said. “We’re doing everything we can. And for me, personally, I can speak for myself, I know that I’m frustrated, angry and upset with the fact that I didn’t do my job to help the team. I think that overall, we’re fighting and we’re going to figure it out.
“It just stinks that I like, personally, that I screwed this one up.”
The loss spoiled another gem of an outing by rookie Christian Scott, who exited with a 5-2 lead. Scott allowed two earned runs on two hits, walked one and struck out four over six innings, all while laying off his put-away pitch, the sweeper. In his fourth career start, he went extra heavy on the four-seam fastball while mixing in sliders and the occasional sinker.
“I thought he was having a hard time glove-side early on, but then he made some adjustments and as the game went on, I thought he got better,” Mendoza said. “He got swings and misses, especially with the fastball.”
Scott gave up a two-out home run to Jorge Soler in the second inning, which tied the game at 1-1. In the third, No. 9 hitter Marco Luciano led off the inning with a debatable triple. Luciano’s ball was well-hit to the right field corner but Starling Marte couldn’t make the catch off the bounce and chased it back to the warning track. Luis Matos scored Luciano on a grounder to shortstop.
Scott retired the final 12 hitters he faced after giving up the triple. He struck out the side in the fifth, getting Heliot Ramos, Mike Yastrzemski and Luciano on fastballs. He faced the top of the order in the sixth and fell behind Matos and LaMonte Wade Jr. before getting them both out.
Thairo Estrada worked him for six pitches, swinging through a sweeper.
“It’s what got me here, so I have faith in it,” Scott said of his fastball. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to have multiple pitches for strikes and multiple pitches for whiffs, but I really, really relied on the heater today. And I thought [catcher Tomas Nido] did just an unbelievable job being able to keep them off balance.”
The Mets got to left-hander Kyle Harrison for two runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game. Vientos and Martinez went back-to-back off Harrison with two outs in the fifth, giving the Mets a 5-2 lead. That was it for Harrison, who was charged with five runs (four earned) on six hits over five innings.
Edwin Diaz came in during the seventh inning with the Mets up by two runs. The Mets are using the closer in low-leverage situations in an effort to rebuild his confidence. It was his first time pitching since blowing a save to the Miami Marlins last weekend and he pitched around a one-out walk.
Alonso homered off right-hander Alex Avila (1-0) in the seventh to put the Mets up 6-3. But then came Bailey’s grand slam and Jorge Lopez gave up a solo shot to Yastrzemski in the top of the ninth.
Fans then hit the turnstiles afterwards.
