FLUSHING — Two days after an incredible comeback against the Phillies in London the Mets come back to Citi Field and lose the first game of a six game home stand 4-2.
The top half of the 5th inning showed a few mistakes from the Mets defensively that completely altered Tylor Megill’s start. Bryan De La Cruz sent a deep fly ball to the left center gap that originally looked like a ball Brandon Nimmo would catch, but Harrison Bader comes in to make the sliding grab and miss plays it as Tim Anderson comes around to score to tie the ballgame.
The same exact inning Mark Vientos robbed Jake Burger of an extra base hit from a beautiful diving effort, but his throw goes wild as Alonso has to take his foot off the bag to save another run from coming across.
“We’ve got some good defenders there. But it feels like every time we make an error, they make us pay. I know it’s hard but when you give extra outs and extra bases we haven’t been able to overcome those issues,” Mendoza said.
The Mets have 44 errors on the season, which puts them second in the National League behind the Miami Marlins and the fourth most in the league. Even with an absent offense the errors made over the course of this season have been a killer for the team.
Fast forwarding to the top of the 9th inning Otto Lopez (who extended his hit streak to 7 games) led off the inning with a single, and a throwing error by Francisco Alvarez put Lopez to third. Nick Gordon would then hit a sacrifice fly to give the Marlins a two run lead and closer Tanner Scott recorded his first ever six out save to end the ball game.
Offensively Mark Vientos continues to hit the baseball recording a two run double to take the lead back in the 2nd inning, but that would be the only offense the Mets had to show for. After tonight’s game Vientos is slashing .320/.381/.587/.986 and continues to prove why he is the third baseman for the foreseeable future.
David Peterson will get the start tomorrow night coming off of a six and two thirds outing against the Washington Nationals looking to help the Mets even the series.