Mets hit speed bump in blowout loss to Phillies
David Peterson of the Mets hands the ball to manager Carlos Mendoza as he is removed from a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in the fourth inning at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
When a weird fourth inning devolved into an ugly Mets loss Friday night, 12-2, to the Phillies, David Stearns’ words from hours prior proved prescient.
He was speaking about this stage of the baseball calendar — the postseason push — and the run the Mets have been on lately when he acknowledged the reality: Sometimes, with fun comes stress.
“There are really high highs,” the Mets' president of baseball operations said. “And there are heartbreaks, as well. And we’re at a point of the season where the emotions are heightened in both directions, and that’s a really good thing.”
It was less of a good thing for the 41,474 at Citi Field who watched the Mets’ first loss of the week (and just their fifth loss in 21 games). With Atlanta’s loss to Miami, however, they maintained a two-game cushion in the race for the final National League playoff berth. The Queens crowd cheered for the first time in a couple of hours when that 4-3 game went final.
Taking the night off from being unstoppable, the Mets did pretty much nothing well. Jose Iglesias went 2-for-4 with a home run and a double; the rest of the lineup finished 2-for-26. J.D. Martinez is 0-for-his-last-31. Pete Alonso dropped a routine pop-up, Luis Torrens gave up five steals and Starling Marte made a misplay in rightfield.
It was the pitching, though, that told the story of the night. Manager Carlos Mendoza pulled David Peterson from a two-run game after 3 2/3 innings and 64 pitches. Peterson clearly was not in top form — he had allowed eight hits and four runs and had another runner on base — but it nonetheless represented a very quick hook.
The second half of the unexpected move was Mendoza’s choice of reliever: Adam Ottavino. On a night when everybody appeared available, he turned to the veteran who in recent months has fallen to the bottom of the depth chart. Ottavino had given up just one run over the past four weeks, but that came in just six games and in low-leverage situations.
In this situation, the game was on the line. Ottavino got ahead of Trea Turner, 0-and-2, but Turner grounded an RBI single through the right side of the infield. Bryce Harper followed by drawing an intentional walk (after Turner stole second mid-plate appearance) and Alec Bohm hammered a three-run home run to break the game open.
Ottavino recorded an out only when Nick Castellanos struck out on a pitch clock violation.
Huascar Brazoban entered for Ottavino at the start of the fifth inning.
The Mets had early success against lefthander Cristopher Sanchez, but he grinded though five innings and held them to just the two runs they scored in the first inning.
His biggest moment came when the game could’ve become close: fifth inning, two outs, bases loaded. Alonso went down on three pitches, including a strike-three sinker that nipped the inner edge of the zone.
Infielder Eddy Alvarez, an Olympic medalist in speed skating and baseball, pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Mets.
Eight games to go until the playoffs.
“We’re all going to enjoy it. It’s going to continue to be a roller coaster,” Stearns said before the game. “There are never smooth paths, smooth sailings, whether it’s now or into October.”
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.
