Mets can't stay hot, lose big to Diamondbacks after Darryl Strawberry celebration
Sean Manaea #59 of the Mets walks to the dugout after the third inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field on Saturday, June 1, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Seventy-two hours later, the Mets’ meeting magic ran out.
Seeking their first three-game winning streak in well over a month, they instead got wrecked by the Diamondbacks, 10-5, on Saturday, sullying what began as a celebratory occasion with the retirement of Darryl Strawberry’s No. 18.
Much of the announced Citi Field crowd of 30,600 — far from a sellout — left by the time the Mets let reliever Josh Walker toil for 51 pitches across parts of three innings (four runs). Those who remained cheered Pete Alonso’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, the highlight of a four-run rally that changed little.
The Mets (24-34) haven’t won three in a row since mid-April.
“We didn’t get it done,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
After their Wednesday night players-only team meeting, from which they emerged talking about positive vibes and playing without pressure, the Mets had strung together consecutive one-run wins in which they played exciting, high-energy, generally successful baseball. Maybe they were starting to turn this thing around.
Or maybe not.
The first sign that something was amiss Saturday came in the first inning, when Francisco Lindor rocketed a single off the rightfield wall but got thrown out by Randal Grichuk by about 30 feet at second base. Pete Alonso scorched his own line drive off the leftfield wall — and reached second safely — but was stranded.
The Mets’ lack of sharpness continued from there.
“Guys kept battling,” Mendoza said. “But we didn’t shake hands at the end of the day.”
Arizona (26-32) stole four bases off Tomas Nido (and Sean Manaea). The last run charged to Manaea came when Walker’s wild pitch and Nido’s throwing error — flung into leftfield — allowed Blaze Alexander to score from second without so much as a ball in play.
Kevin Newman initiated a two-run rally in the seventh with a single to rightfield, dropped right in front of Starling Marte, who ran to the right spot at the right time but just didn’t catch it. During a similar rally in the eighth, Walker failed to cover first on a grounder to first, eliciting a look of exasperation from Alonso, who ran and dived for the bag to beat Ketel Marte and record the out.
“The only play is to either flip it to the pitcher or take it myself,” Alonso said. “I saw that he wasn’t there, so I did the best I could to get over there. Thankfully, I did.”
Manaea had a weird outing. He struck out 10 batters, becoming the first Mets pitcher to do so this season, which was good. But he allowed six runs (five earned) in 5 2⁄3 innings, which was bad. But he largely cruised outside of the third inning, which was good. But Christian Walker’s grand slam served as the climax of that 37-pitch slog, which was bad.
Altogether, it made for one of Manaea’s worst starts of the season. He has a 3.63 ERA.
“After the first two innings, we were like, he’s on tonight,” Mendoza said. “The fastball had life, he was getting swings and misses, the sweeper, the cutter — everything was on . . . Then they got that huge hit at the right time . . . He’d probably tell you the same thing: He was feeling really, really good today.”
Manaea said: “It was very odd . . . The home run itself, I thought it was the right pitch. Location — middle-middle — wasn’t really gonna play. Christian obviously put a great swing on it. If I could do everything back, I would still throw the same pitch [sweeping slider]. Just a different location.”
The Mets’ only run in 4 2⁄3 innings against righthander Slade Cecconi came on Mark Vientos’ home run — into the second deck in leftfield — in the fifth. At a projected 440 feet, it tied Brandon Nimmo’s May 7 blast in St. Louis as the longest by the Mets this season.
“Special. He’s got power,” Mendoza said. “Got a pitch up in the zone and put a good swing on it and it went a long ways.
“He continues to hit the ball hard. Good at-bats overall.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.