Meet the Mets
The Mets continue to free fall, dropping their eighth straight game by losing to the Rangers 3-2. This one was a heartbreaker in a new way; Brandon Sproat pitched six scoreless innings in his second major league start and the Mets still lost. The Mets loaded the bases in the first against Patrick Corbin, but failed to score. It took until the fifth for the Mets to score against him; Lindor led off the inning with a bunt single and Pete Alonso blooped a single to advance him to third base. Lindor scored
on an errant throw to third to put the Mets on the board. Juan Soto added an insurance run with a solo homer in the seventh. But this time it was Edwin Díaz’s turn to falter (with a little assistance from a poor defensive play by Francisco Lindor). The Rangers tied the game in the eighth with Díaz attempting to get a four-out save and then scored the go-ahead run in the ninth—also off Díaz. And as usual, despite getting runners on base in the bottom of both innings, the Mets failed to punch back.
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Prior to yesterday’s game, the Mets optioned Huascar Brazobán (who pitched 3 1/3 innings on Friday night after Jonah Tong’s early exit) back to Triple-A and recalled Dom Hamel in his place.
Soto’s home run in the seventh was his 40th of the season. With it, he joined Barry Bonds and Jeff Bagwell as the only players in baseball history to notch a 40-homer, 30-steal, 110-walk season. He also became the 9th player in MLB history with consecutive 40-homer seasons for two different teams.
Among the former Mets present at Citi Field yesterday for the Alumni Classic were members of the 2007 team that were part of a historic Mets collapse. They had some advice for the 2025 team in the midst of potentially yet another collapse.
Around the National League East
The Pirates rallied late with four runs in the eighth to beat the Nationals 5-1.
The Phillies’ magic number to clinch the NL East is now 1 with their 8-6 victory over the Royals yesterday.
Troy Johnston hit a two-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the eleventh to lift the Marlins to a 6-4 victory over the Tigers.
Bryce Elder was knocked around in a 6-2 Braves loss to the Astros.
Around Major League Baseball
With the Mets’ loss yesterday, the Brewers became the first team in baseball to clinch a postseason berth when they walked off the Cardinals 9-8 in extra innings.
And therein lies the small bit of good news. The Mets have clung onto the third Wild Card slot in the National League for yet another day because pretty much all the teams chasing them lost as well. The Cardinals lost. The Giants lost as well, as the Dodgers pounded them for 17 hits, scoring six runs in the fifth inning en route to a 13-7 Dodgers victory.
The Reds also lost, falling to the A’s 11-5 in a game that featured a 493-foot bomb of a grand slam by Nick Kurtz.
The only team chasing the Mets to win yesterday was the Diamondbacks, who defeated the Twins 5-2 in ten innings. Former Met John Curtiss earned the win for Arizona. With those results, the Mets remain half a game up on the Giants and 1.5 games up on the Reds. Arizona pulls within two games of the Mets and the Cardinals are four back.
Liam Hendriks is experiencing forearm tightness and has been shut down from throwing, likely ending his season.
The Tigers got good news on their ace Tarik Skubal after he exited last night’s game with discomfort in his side; his imaging came back clean and he plans on making his next scheduled start.
This Date in Mets History
Cleon Jones made his major league debut on this date in 1963.
