Mets' bats can't snap out of funk, fall to Guardians for seventh loss in eight games
Mets rightfielder Juan Soto returns to the dugout after being called out on strikes during the eighth inning against the Cleveland Guardians in an MLB game at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Tuesday night at Citi Field was all about waiting.
Waiting to see if Pete Alonso would tie Darryl Strawberry’s Mets franchise home run record with No. 252 (he didn’t).
And waiting to see if the Mets would snap out of their recent funk (they didn’t).
Newly acquired reliever Tyler Rogers gave up the tie-breaking run in the seventh inning and the Mets dropped their seventh in eight games with a 3-2 loss to Cleveland before 39,895.
Alonso — with fans chanting his name and the scoreboard showing Strawberry’s retired No. 18 in the Citi Field rafter — went 1-for-3 with a single, sacrifice fly and a pair of grounders to third.
The Mets were held to four hits by five Guardians pitchers and didn’t have a hit in the final five innings. They fell 2 1⁄2 games behind the Phillies in the NL East. The Mets have lost three in a row; the Phillies have won three in a row.
“Things are not as bleak as they seem,” said Brandon Nimmo (0-for-4, 2 Ks). “You’re really, really close. You’re one hit away, usually.”
That one hit could have been a hot shot hit by Francisco Lindor with the Mets leading 2-0 with one out and the bases loaded in the second inning. It seemed ticketed for centerfield, but the Guardians turned it into a nifty, inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
“Lindor hits a bullet up the middle and they end up making a play,” said manager Carlos Mendoza, who of the team’s offense in general said, “We just didn’t create anything . . . We just didn’t put anything together. They got us today and we’ve got to turn the page, obviously. That was not good today.”
The score was tied at 2 with two outs in the seventh when Rogers gave up consecutive singles to Cleveland’s No. 8, 9 and 1 hitters. Steven Kwan’s ground-ball single to center drove in the go-ahead run.
“He’s a ground-ball guy,” Mendoza said. “A couple of ground balls found holes . . . That’s exactly what Rogers is. The guy’s going to get ground balls from lefties and righties. Today, they found holes.”
Clay Holmes went five innings and allowed two runs. He was pulled after just 75 pitches because Mendoza didn’t want Cleveland getting a third look at the righthander and the Mets’ key relievers were rested.
“I was feeling good,” Holmes said. “Obviously, it’s not really my call. But, I think all things considered, he felt like it was best to go to the pen there.”
Asked if he tried to talk his way into another inning, Holmes said: “No. He seemed pretty confident with what he wanted to do there. It’s his decision.”
In his previous outing, Holmes gave up four runs (two earned) and eight hits in a season-low 3 2⁄3 innings in a 5-0 loss at San Diego.
Holmes, a converted reliever, has thrown a career-high 122 1⁄3 innings. His previous career high was 70 innings in 69 relief appearances for Pittsburgh and the Yankees in 2021.
So the Mets have legitimate concerns about how the 32-year-old will hold up over the long haul when the club needs innings from its starters.
Holmes was perfect over the first three innings with five strikeouts. The Mets staked him to a 2-0 lead on Alonso’s first-inning sacrifice fly and Tyrone Taylor’s second-inning RBI single.
Cleveland’s first hit was a single to center by Kwan leading off the fourth. Holmes then walked Daniel Schneemann. One out later, Kyle Manzardo singled in the Guardians’ first run.
After a fielder’s choice, Holmes served up a game-tying two-out single to Gabriel Arias. He was removed after a 1-2-3 fifth.
It became a battle of the bullpens, and Cleveland eked out a win.
“That’s kind of the Guardians’ M.O.,” Nimmo said. “They play good defense, they have good pitching, and then they just try and find those timely hits and put the balls in play . . . Sometimes it doesn’t bounce your way.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
