The Seattle Mariners proved once again why they’re the hottest team in baseball at the expense of the New York Mets.
The Mets gave up three home runs and committed two errors as the Mariners won their eighth straight game. Meanwhile, the Mets’ lineup outside of Carson Benge couldn’t get much going in the 8-3 loss. Benge hit two home runs and accounted for all three of New York’s runs.
Benge’s home runs came against Seattle’s starting pitcher Logan Gilbert, who finished with eight strikeouts across
five and 1/3 innings. The Mariners’ bullpen took it from there, shutting New York down the rest of the way. Julio Rodriguez, Patrick Wisdom, and Jhonny Pereda added home runs for Seattle.
Huascar Brazobán played the role of opener for Jonah Tong and went once through the Seattle order with poor results. He walked the leadoff man, J.P. Crawford, before getting three groundball outs to escape. He wasn’t so lucky in the second inning. Dominic Canzone’s single was followed up by Wisdom’s home run to put Seattle up 2-0. Brazobán gave up a double to Colt Emerson before being pulled for Tong, who struck out Crawford on three pitches to end the inning.
The Mets’ rookie outfielders answered back in the top of the third. AJ Ewing hit his first big-league double, which was followed by Benge’s first home run of the night. Benge’s third-inning dinger was the hardest-hit ball of his career at 109.8 mph. Bo Bichette was then hit by a pitch, but Gilbert struck out Soto to end the inning. Soto entered the game 1 for 13 in his career against Gilbert. After he lined out and struck out, Soto got a single off Gilbert in the fifth inning before the right-hander was pulled.
The Mets’ infield defense let Tong down in his first clean inning. Randy Arozarena hit a line drive at Marcus Semien that Semien was able to knock down, but he airmailed the throw to first base, allowing Arozarena to advance to second. Next up was Luke Raley, who hit a line drive to first baseman Mark Vientos, who dropped it, easily sending Arozarena to home plate. The Vientos error put the Mariners up 3-2, a lead they never gave up.
Tong got into trouble all on his own in the fourth inning. He walked Wisdom, gave up a single to Pereda, then a walk to Crawford to load the bases. Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to score Wisdom and increase the lead to 4-2.
It kept getting worse for Tong in the fifth inning when he gave up a three-run home run to Pereda. Buried 7-2 and short on arms, manager Carlos Mendoza left Tong in for the rest of the fifth before going with Cionel Perez to start the sixth. Perez immediately gave up Rodriguez’s solo shot, but didn’t allow any more runs across two total innings. AJ Minter pitched for the second night in a row, stranding a pair in the eighth inning.
Benge’s second home run came in the sixth inning, but the Mets’ offense went quietly after the brief sign of life. A single from Brett Baty in the seventh and a walk from Benge in the eighth were all the Mets got going against Seattle relievers Eduard Bazardo and Cooper Criswell.
Semien, Vientos, Bichette, Jared Young, and Hayden Senger all went hitless for the Mets.
New York looks to avoid the sweep with Freddy Peralta on the mound for Wednesday’s series finale at 3:30 PM ET.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Carson Benge, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: Jonah Tong, -28% WPA
Mets pitchers: -45% WPA
Mets hitters: -5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Carson Benge home run in the third, +20.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Patrick Wisdom home run in the second, +19.9% WPA
