I mean, what can you even say?
Ten straight losses in ten straight losses, which is bad, no good, terrible, pick whichever word or phrase from the thesaurus you would like. The bats have looked better the past two days, with the Mets netting 14 hits yesterday and seven today, but no one diehard enough to read an Amazin’ Avenue recap after the tenth straight loss will, or should, care about the smallest of moral victories here.
The game was close for most of it, with Freddy Peralta and Jameson Taillon
both pitching well, in similar ways. Taillon struggled early on, allowing two base runners in the first, an enormous home run to Mark Vientos in the second, and a base runner in the third, before settling in nicely to finish the day with a strong quality start.
Peralta worked a perfect first inning, allowed a similarly enormous home run to Ian Happ in the bottom of the second, tying it at one apiece at the time, before working around trouble in the rest of the inning. Peralta, similar to Taillon, was strong in the middle innings, allowing just a single base runner in the third, fourth and fifth.
The bottom of the sixth was where it fell apart for Peralta; kind of, anyway. He got the first two outs of the frame and simply hit a wall, walking Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki to put two on with two outs. Clearly tiring, Carlos Mendoza opted to bring in Brooks Raley to face Moisés Ballesteros. Cubs manager Craig Counsell answered by pinch hitting Carson Kelly, who put the very first pitch Raley through into the seats to make it 4-1.
The Mets battled back a bit in the eighth against Ben Brown, as Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor led off the inning with infield singles (though, for my money, the Lindor single gave off more of an error vibe but who’s complaining?). Luis Robert Jr. beat out a would-be double play ball, MJ Melendez struck out on a check swing, turning it from a potential rally to a “oh here we go again” scenario. Francisco Alvarez reached on a throwing error by Nico Hoerner, who was shifted up the middle, ranged to his right, rushed the throw, and brought Michael Busch off the first base bag. The Mets rejected the gift they were given quickly after that, as Mark Vientos grounded out quickly to end the rally.
The ninth inning was trivial, as Tommy Pham, Marcus Semien struck out, and Tyrone Taylor popped out, pushing the losing streak to a unbelievable ten games.
One note to leave you with on this fine Saturday:
Maybe the 2026 Mets can be the fifth?
SB Nation GameThreads
Amazin’ Avenue
Bleed Cubbie Blue
Box scores
Win Probability Added
FanGraphs.com" />
Big Mets winner: You, dear reader.
Big Mets loser: Brooks Raley, -33.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: -14.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -36.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Vientos’s home run, +11.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Carson Kelly’s three-run home, -34.0% WPA
