For eight innings, the Mets pitched, hit and played fairꦦly fun🌊damental baseball.
Inn𒐪ings nine and 10 were chaotic and ultimately costly.
Edwin Diaz blew another save in an eventful ninth before the Mets played a poor 10th inning in a 5-4 series-opening and stom༒ach-turning loss to the Phillies in front of 28,086 at Citi Field on Monday.
The Mets (19-21) have lost🐟 three of the first four in this perhaps telling seven-game stretch against the Braves and Phillies,🌼 the latest particularly painful.
“You give the ball to your closer, and you feel g🍨ood about your chances,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after Diaz blew his second save in his past four games.
The Mets entered the ninth up two, but the game began to 🌃turn when Bryson Stott turned on an inside fastball that was not even a strike.
Stott launchedꦕ a pitch that Diaz said “was like 2 inches out of꧅ the plate” for a homer to slice the lead to one, which is when Diaz’s command issues reappeared.
Kody Clemens singled before Diaz walked Brandon Marsh on four pitches. He bounced back, striking out Kyle Schwarber and inducing a pop-out from Garretꩵt Stubbs.
But the pitch that angered Diaz and M😼endoza the most was ball four to Whit Merrifield, whose bat appeared to go around but he was ruled to have checked his swing.
“That changed the game,” sa♓id Diaz, who was much calmer than a furious Mendoza🍨, who screamed from the dugout. “Obviously he swung — I saw the video.”
Still, Diaz could have escaped and got ahead 0-2 on Alec Bohm, 🌳but ꦏhis third pitch was a 98 mph fastball that Diaz said he overthrew, bearing in on Bohm and hitting his hand (and just missing the bat’s knob).
The bases-loaded p🔯lunking tied a game that the Mets would lose in the 10th.
“I let the team down,” said Diaz, who blamed his control for the blowup. “[Sean] Reid-Foley got the loss, but I count it as me because I caꦆme in with a two-run lead and blew it.”
The Mets collectively blew it in extras. A Reid-Foley pitch split Tomas Nido’s legs, advancing ghost runner Bryce Harper to 🍎third. Reid-Foley walked Nick Castellanos only after the Mets asked for a review to ensure it was indeed ball four and not ball three, before Stott’s sacrifice fly scored the game-winner.
In the bottom of the i🗹nning, Joey Wendle, who even in spot starts has had several rough moments this season, popped up a bunt for an out against Jose Alvarado.
Harrison Bader grounded out an💜d Jeff McNeღil flared out, stranding the ghost runner in a frustrating finish.
Forgotten by the end was all the good that was seen in the beginning a🅘n🌃d middle.
Sean Manaea pitched six strong iꦉnnings in which he let up just a run — on a drag bunt — on four hits (three of which were poorly struck) and a walk.
After a poor outing in a loss to the Royals on April 13, Manaea has allowed seven earned runs in🦩 five starts and 26 ²/₃ innings, lowering his season ERA ꧋to 3.05.
His dominance of the Phillies, whose offense entered play having scored more runs than every team but the Dodgers, 𒀰was especially encouraging.
“Not really rewriting the script,” ꦚsaid Manaea, whose best pitch of the night was his sinker. “Just attacking guys.”
He got help from Bader, whose sliding catch to retire Joꩵhan Rojas in the fourth saved a ru💙n, and got more help from the club’s righty sluggers.
Pete Alonso and J.D. Martinez reached on a combineꦐd seven of 10 platᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚe appearances.
In the second inning, the two hit back-to-back doubles to plate one run, and Tomas Nido’s si𒅌ngle scღored another to give the Mets a lead they held until the ninth.
The Mets💛 scored again in the third when they loaded the bases on a Starling Marte double, Francisco Lindor walk and Alonso single.
They only plated one, though, on a bases-loaded walk꧅ from Martinez.
Philadelphia’s Christopher Sanchez struck out Brett Baty, Bader and M♚cNeil in succession to escape further d♕amage in a moment that did not matter until a late-game meltdown ensured it did.
“At ꧙the end of the day,” Mendoza said, “we have bases loaded and nobody out and couldn’t cash in.”
