Mets implode in loss to Marlins, no longer control their playoff destiny as Reds defeat Brewers
Mets relief pitcher Gregory Soto reacts after giving up a two-run home run to the Marlins' Connor Norby during the fifth inning on Friday in Miami. Credit: AP/Lynne Sladky
MIAMI — The Mets traveled to Miami early Friday with three games to play and in full control of their own destiny.
That, it turns out, is the problem.
In an ugly game emblematic of an ugly season, the Mets disintegrated in ways all too common: Sloppy defense, shoddy pitching and shabby situational hitting all contributed to a 6-2 loss to the Marlins at loanDepot park.
Now destiny has turned into fate: With the Reds beating the Brewers on Friday, the Mets have no definitive say on whether they’ll make the playoffs. The two teams are tied at 82-78 with two games to go and the Reds hold the tiebreaker, meaning the Mets could be eliminated as soon as Saturday. They will have to win one more game than the Reds do in the next two days to reach the postseason.
By the manager’s own admission, it’s earned. The Mets are 37-54 since their high-water mark of 21 games over .500 (45-24) on June 12 — the fifth-worst record in that span.
“We put ourselves in this position,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Here we are. We’ve got to come back tomorrow and the next day now . . . We did it to ourselves.”
Pete Alonso committed two miscues in a six-run fifth, Brandon Sproat was charged with four runs in that inning and the Mets went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. They didn’t record a hit after the third and left the bases loaded in the eighth.
Oh, and in case that wasn’t enough, they might have lost Brett Baty to a right oblique injury.
Baty said he felt it swinging through a pitch in the first inning and added that it really acted up after he made a throw in the bottom of the frame. Mendoza said they’d know more Saturday, but it’s possible this could end his season.
“It’s too early [to tell], but just watching the faces he was making and [knowing] that area right there is tricky — we’ve got to wait until tomorrow to see what the severity is like,” he said.
Added Baty: “We’re going to see how it feels tomorrow. There are only two days left, so if there’s any possibility of me playing, I’m going to play.”
Much like this season for the Mets, the game started well enough before imploding toward the middle.
The Mets scored both of their runs in the first. Francisco Lindor drove Sandy Alcantara’s second pitch, a hanging sinker, 392 feet to right-center for his 31st homer and his 11th leadoff blast of the year. Juan Soto singled and stole second and, with one out, Alonso lined a double into the leftfield corner to put the Mets up 2-0. Soto also stole a base in the third, putting him two stolen bases shy of becoming the seventh member of the 40-40 club.
Griffin Conine led off the fifth with a single, Troy Johnston singled to put runners at the corners, and Heriberto Hernandez tripled into the rightfield corner to tie the score at 2. With one out, Jakob Marsee hit a grounder to first and Alonso booted it. Jeff McNeil was able to grab the carom and throw Marsee out at first, but the miscue allowed the go-ahead run to score.
“He was going on contact,” Alonso said. “It was a tough one but I’m still happy I was able to get an out in that situation . . . So, not ideal. If I’d fielded it cleanly, I would have thrown it home.”
Sproat allowed another single by Agustin Ramirez before getting lifted for Gregory Soto. He allowed five hits with a walk and two strikeouts in 4 2⁄3 innings.
Soto failed to pay attention to Ramirez on the basepaths, allowing him to steal second, and Ramirez, seeing that Ronny Mauricio was far from the third-base bag, then took third easily — all of which allowed him to score on Xavier Edwards’ single. The disaster continued when Connor Norby obliterated a 2-and-1 sinker, hitting it 422 feet to left for his first career pinch-hit homer and a 6-2 Marlins lead.
The Mets looked utterly toothless after that. Alcantara settled down after the first, allowing two runs and six hits with two walks and three strikeouts in seven innings.
Mendoza credited Alcantara but noted that early scoring followed by not much else has been an ongoing trend.
“Whenever you get chances, you’ve got to continue to punch, and we haven’t been able to do that,” Mendoza said. “I think you’ve got to give [Alcantara] credit, but yeah, it’s been going on for a while.
“It’s on all of us,” he added. “We continue to make those mistakes and it’s costing us games.”
Games they can no longer afford to lose.
Notes & quotes: Clay Holmes will start Saturday . . . Tommy John surgery was recommended for Reed Garrett, but he’ll get a second opinion.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
