Mets suffer eighth straight loss after bullpen blows lead against Rangers
The Mets' Brandon Nimmo strikes out to end a game against the Rangers on Saturday at Citi Field. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets were oh-so-close to snapping a brutal seven-game losing streak that had pushed their playoff hopes to the brink.
Alas.
Tyler Rogers, Edwin Diaz and shoddy late-inning defense turned a two-run eighth-inning lead into a painful 3-2 loss to the Rangers — the Mets’ eighth straight defeat — in front of 41,752 at Citi Field on Saturday.
“It’s not easy right now, especially when you’re not able to finish the job in a game where you felt like you had it, and then before you know it, you’re behind,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
The Mets (76-73) have gone 31-49 since June 13. They are a half-game ahead of the Giants, 1 1⁄2 games ahead of the Reds and two games ahead of the Diamondbacks in the battle for the NL’s third wild card.
Rookie righthander Brandon Sproat, in his second MLB start and first at Citi Field, produced a scoreless six-inning start that the Mets let go to waste.
The Mets went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base. Rogers was charged with two runs (one earned) in two-thirds of an inning. Diaz (6-3) allowed an inherited runner to score the tying run and gave up another run, three hits and a walk in 1 1⁄3 innings, taking his third blown save.
Juan Soto hit a one-out single off Phil Maton (4-5, 2.86 ERA) in the ninth but was stranded at third. Shawn Armstrong struck out Pete Alonso, allowed a single by pinch hitter Ronny Mauricio and struck out Brandon Nimmo to shut the door.
Soto hit his 40th homer, a solo shot in the seventh, as the Mets took a 2-0 lead.
“Fundamentally, obviously, we’re not playing good baseball right now,” Mendoza said.
Francisco Lindor said: “It’s one of those where it’s almost like, at times, you can feel like a snowball effect, where it’s just one after the other one. We stop it and something else happens. At the end of the day, the other teams are playing better than us, and you have to tip your cap and say, yeah, they outplayed us.”
Francisco Alvarez, Rogers and Diaz combined to fumble the lead as the Rangers scored two eighth-inning runs to tie it at 2-2.
Josh Smith led off by reaching on catcher’s interference, Wyatt Langford doubled and Joc Pederson cut it to 2-1 with a sacrifice fly. Mendoza pulled Rogers after he struck out Jake Burger, but Diaz walked Josh Jung and surrendered the tying ground-rule double by pinch hitter Rowdy Tellez.
Cody Freeman led off the ninth against Diaz with a single off a leaping Lindor’s glove. “I should have caught it,” he said. After Michael Helman’s sacrifice bunt and Smith’s strikeout, Langford roped an RBI single to center to give the Rangers (79-70) the go-ahead run.
The Mets could not cash in on three opportunities with runners in scoring position in the eighth after Nimmo led off with an infield single and moved to second on Jung’s throwing error. Brett Baty struck out, Alvarez grounded out, Jeff McNeil walked and pinch hitter Cedric Mullins struck out.
An inning earlier, Soto drove Hoby Milner’s full-count, inside sinker 414 feet into the second deck in rightfield. He became only the fifth player in franchise history to record a 40-homer season, the second of his career.
Sproat, who turns 25 on Wednesday, allowed six hits, no walks and struck out three. He threw only 70 pitches, filling the zone with 53 strikes.
Mendoza said he pulled Sproat because of a “big-time velo drop” in the sixth.
“I’m good,” Sproat said when asked if he was physically OK. “My goal is to just go out there and just pitch as long as I can, compete for as long as I can, until they take the ball from me. I respect their call. It’s his call, and I also trust our bullpen behind me.”
The Rangers went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position against Sproat. With men on first and second and two outs in the sixth, Jung, his final batter, hit into a 6-4 forceout to end the inning.
Now amid a season-high losing streak at the worst time possible, what is the Mets’ message to the fan base?
“Keep hoping because we are turning this around,” Soto said. “We’re going out there. We’re giving our 100% every night. So it’s nothing else we can do. We’re just playing hard, busting our [butts] and seeing what happens.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
