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Tonight was not a good night for the Mets and, depending on what the Reds do in Milwaukee, might’ve been the nail in the coffin in of the Mets’ playoff hopes, as they dropped a crucial game to the Marlins, 6-2.
The Mets knew exactly how much this game mattered, and they came out swinging. Francisco Lindor greeted Marlins’ starter Sandy Alcantara with a lead off solo home run. Juan Soto then singled up the middle and, as is his current wont, bordering on obsession, he stole second base. After a Brandon
Nimmo fly out, Pete Alonso banged a double off the third-base bag, scoring Soto from second, and the Mets were up 2-0.
The Mets’ bats couldn’t deliver additional runs for the next few innings. They had some chances, but couldn’t deliver. Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens both singled in the second, but they were erased when Lindor lined a hot shot into a double play to end the inning. In the next inning, Soto singled, stole second, and advanced to third after tagging up, but was stranded at third.
Brett Baty left the game after the second inning with some right-side soreness and was replaced in the field by Ronny Mauricio.
In the fourth, Alcantara settled down and, aside from a one-out walk to Cedric Mullins, didn’t allow a baserunner in the fourth or fifth innings.
Brandon Sproat made his fourth big league start this evening at loanDepot Park. Over the first four innings, Sproat allowed just one hit, one walk, and two hit batsmen. He looked strong through four, but the fifth inning got away from him and saw the Mets lose their lead.
Griffin Conine singled to start the frame. Next up was Troy Johnson, who hit a bullet that Alonso got a glove on but couldn’t reign in, and there were runners on first and third with no outs. Heriberto Hernandez then inside-outed a ball down the right field line for a two-RBI triple to tie the game. A nice play by Alonso kept Hernandez from scoring, but one batter later Agustin Ramirez hit a ball that came off the heel of Alonso’s glove and deflected away. He would be tossed out but the run would score, putting the Marlins up 3-2.
That would be it for Sproat, who exited the game with two outs in the fifth. Gregory Soto was first out of the bullpen, and Ramirez ran wild on Soto. When on first, he took off before Soto went into the pitch, stealing second without a throw. Soto was able to step off when Ramirez took off for third but Mauricio didn’t run to the base, and Ramirez went in safely. A ground ball up the middle off the bat of Xavier Edwards to bring in another run. Pinch hitter Connor Norby then took Soto way deep to left field for a two-run homer, and the Mets were down 6-2. Soto eventually got Conine on strikes, but six runs had scored on seven hits.
Soto would throw a scoreless sixth before giving way to Huascar Brazoban, who allowed one base runner in his inning of work.
Alcantara retired all three batters in both the sixth and the seventh with grounders. In fact, he recorded 12 straight outs on the ground. When he came back out for the eighth, he walked Lindor on four pitches and that ended his day. Cade Gibson came in and got Soto to ground into a fielder’s choice for the first out. Nimmo grounded into what should’ve been another fielder’s choice, but Otto Lopez dropped the ball after a poor feed from Edwards, and the Mets had two on with one out. Gibson struck out Alonso to leave it up to McNeil. McNeil worked a long at-bat that ended in a walk, and led to Mark Vientos stepping to the plate to pinch hit as the tying run.
Right-hander Tyler Phillips came in the game to face Vientos, and Phillips got him to pop up to end the threat.
Kevin Herget, he of frequent flyer miles in and out of Syracuse, pitched a scoreless ninth, and the Mets came to bat in the ninth needing baserunners.
Alvarez was first up for the Mets, and a swinging bunt nubbed a ball mere inches in front of home plate, but it was fair, and Alvy was tagged out for the first out. Mullins then hit a lazy fly ball to right for the penultimate out of the game.
If the Reds win tonight, the Mets will no longer be in control of their own destiny, as they will be tied with the Reds, and the Reds have the tie-breaker. Yeesh.
Tomorrow afternoon, Clay Holmes will start for the Mets against Eury Perez. Start praying folks.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
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Big Mets winner: Juan Soto, +6.5% WPA
Big Mets loser: Gregory Soto, -22.5% WPA
Mets pitchers: -38.5% WPA
Mets hitters: -11.4% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s lead-off home run, +9.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Heriberto Hernandez’s two-run triple, -22.6% WPA
