Mets can’t figure out [checks notes] Freddy Peralta?

After pulling off an inspired win yesterday, the Mets looked to ride some momentum against a former teammate who is having a disastrous season. But being the Mets, he stymied them for six innings and led his team to a 6-2 victory.

The Mets must have known that today started Dollars For Dingers, and Francisco Lindor kicked off the event with a home run on the first batter of the game. The Mets’ 1-0 lead would not last very long, but it was a nice kickoff to raising some money for a great cause.

Sean

Manaea’s first three batters all made contact, leading to Yandy Díaz scoring on a Junior Caminero single, tying the game nearly as quickly as the Mets took the lead in the first place. The 1-1 stalemate would continue until the bottom of the third, when Ryan Vilade drove in Victor Mesa Jr. to put the Rays up by a run.

Manaea was able to settle down a bit and work around some baserunners in the fourth and fifth to keep the game within a run. However, in the sixth, the wheels came off for Manaea. A single, double, ground-out, sacrifice fly, homer, and triple led to three additional runs, and knocked Manaea out with two outs in the sixth. Austin Warren was first out of the ‘pen, and he induced a Caminero ground out to end the inning.

The one run was all that the Mets could muster against old friend Freddy Peralta. Over six innings, he gave up just three hits, walking none and striking out seven. While Peralta’s time as a Ray hasn’t been a total rebirth, the Mets would’ve loved a few starts that looked like this.

Garrett Clevinger was first out of the bullpen for the Rays, and he recorded just one out, a long fly ball off the bat of Francisco Alvarez, while walking three. Tyler Wells replaced him, and got pinch hitter Mark Vientos to pop out in foul territory. Lindor then walked in a run before Soto hit a lazy pop up on the infield, ending the inning with just one run scoring.

Dylan Ross looked a little erratic in his first appearance of the season, but he got through the bottom of the seventh without too much issue. Wells pitched a scoreless top of the eighth without a Met reaching base.

Jefry Yan pitched the bottom of the eighth, giving up a single to Mesa and a double to Taylor Walls before a Vilade fielder’s choice pushed across the sixth Tampa Bay run.

The Mets found themselves down four with the bottom third of their lineup up against Kevin Kelly. Marcus Semien did the expected, softly grounding out to the left side for the first out of the inning. Alvarez went down on strikes, leaving A.J. Ewing as the Mets’ last chance. Ewing would also go down swinging, and the Mets lost the second game of the series.

Justin Hagenman makes his season debut tomorrow against Griffin Jax in the rubber game.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Francisco Lindor, +12.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Sean Manaea, -18.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: -17.0 WPA
Mets hitters: -33.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s leadoff home run, +9.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Nick Fortes’s sixth inning double, -11.0% WPA