The Mets had two on and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning but couldn’t push across the tying run, as they lost to the Marlins, 3-2, Sunday afternoon at Citi Field. The loss kept them from a series sweep and left their record against their NL East foe for the year at 7-6.
Jose Iglesias beat out an infield hit to start the ninth inning, his second infield hit of the game. Tyrone Taylor followed with a single to bring up Jeff McNeil. And for reasons that made sense to … someone, Carlos Mendoza had one of his hottest hitters since the All-Star break attempt a bunt. McNeil entered the game with 3,111 PA and 8 SH, four of which came in his very first year in the majors.
McNeil bunted one foul and missed another completely. And then he struck out. Proponents of the bunt will say – if he was successful, Iglesias would have scored on Francisco Lindor’s deep fly to center, instead of just advancing to third. The rest of us will say – it would be one thing to ask Tomas Nido to sacrifice bunt, it’s another asking McNeil to do it. You want to put people in a position to succeed and it simply wasn’t the case with McNeil making a sac bunt.
Mark Vientos did his best Pete Alonso imitation, striking out on a pitch low, away and far from the strike zone, to end the game.
Paul Blackburn got the start and for the third time in four games with the Mets, he delivered a 6 IP, 1 ER performance. But the bullpen simply didn’t come thru. Huascar Brazoban gave up a run in the seventh inning on a wild pitch that tied the game. And Reed Garrett walked the bases loaded in the eighth, before being replaced by Phil Maton, who gave up the game-winning hit.
Francisco Lindor tied the game in the fifth inning with an RBI single and Brandon Nimmo put the Mets ahead with his 18th HR of the year an inning later. Nimmo also made a nice diving play in the field in the seventh that kept the game tied before being removed from the game with a shoulder injury. No word yet on the severity of the injury.
Just some really poor management at the end of the game.
Reed Garett hasn’t been good since April. But he keeps getting the call in high leverage situations. He s .my choice to go down when Nunez returns.
Asking McNeil to bunt as everyone who watches the Mets know was a mistake. Better to put on the double steal with your two fastest guys on base. Or better yet, let your teams hottest hitter of the 2nd half swing the bat.
Of course poor at bats by Bader, Martinez, and Alonso in failing to move runners over in key spots didn’t help.
This was a winnable game despite another crappy outing from the pen. Three walks by Garrett is absurd. Wondering why Iglesias is not hitting second with his .342 batting average and .883 OPS. I think they brought in the corners when McNeil was attempting to bunt. Thought he was a better bunter but must be confusing that with when he tries a push bunt for a hit. Tighter corners should have given him more room to push a hit either direction. And yes, if he had succeeded in moving the runners up they would have had to bring the infield in and who knows what Lindor could then have accomplished.
Another day off the calendar and now in comes the first place Orioles fighting to take their division. This could be ugly. I like Peterson tonight against their worst starter but the Mets will have to swing their bats better to give them a chance.
Gut Reaction: the Mets had nine hits and four walks but only scored two runs. They were 1-9 RISP. It was a disappointing loss because they handle the Marlins easily in the first two games of the series. Blackburn pitched a very nice game. Garrett has not been pitching well.
Baseball does not have a set time to end the game instead they have 27 outs. Outs are precious so you don’t give them away. The purpose of bunting give an out away and advance the runner. According to Tom Tango, author of The Book, there is a higher percentage to score the run with no out and men on first and second then to score the run with one out and men on second and third. The statistics support that.
Yes, the pen was awful with the walks and Maton falling behind 3-0, but once again the offense failed to push across run(s) late in a tight spot. As a famous author once said – if someone shows you who they are, believe them.