Juan Soto strikes out as potential go-ahead run to end Mets' Opening Day loss to Astros

HOUSTON — On the first day of his first season with the Mets, of course it all came down to Juan Soto.

A sleepy-turned-suspenseful Opening Day evolved into a familiar scene for the Mets, who never held a lead in the 3-1 loss to the Astros but brought the potential go-ahead run to the plate in each of the last two innings.

In the ninth, when they loaded the bases with none out against Houston closer Josh Hader, it was like an orange-and-blue fever dream, the magic of last season’s inevitability combined with the allure of a lurking Soto, the $765 million man making his team debut.

The Mets did manage to bring Soto to the plate, with the would-be tying run on first base. They thought they knew what was going to happen next.

“You feel it,” righthander Clay Holmes said. “Everyone is like, man, let’s get Juan up and see what happens. And we were able to do it. Obviously, more times than not, we feel really good about it.”

Francisco Lindor said: “I trust him as much as I trust myself.”

And Brandon Nimmo: “We were set up to win the game . . . We got our best hitter against their closer who has thrown a lot of pitches.”

Soto thought he knew what was coming, too, but he was wrong. After Hader fell behind 3-and-0, he fought back to a full count, getting away with a fat fastball just above the zone that Soto fouled away. Soto nodded and smiled. He was on it. He was super-ready for another.

Another never came. Hader’s 35th pitch of the inning was a slider in the other batter’s box. Soto half-heartedly waved at it, unable to check his swing.

“I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “It just happened.”

What was Soto expecting?

“His best pitch,” he said. “His best pitch is the fastball, so I was sitting on the fastball.”

As dramatic as the finish was, as much as Soto came up empty when it mattered most, here was the reality for the Mets in their season opener: Soto’s portion — 1-for-3 with a single in his first at-bat and a pair of walks — was just about the most successful piece of the game.

Everything else was sort of a mess.

Holmes, the former Yankees closer converting to starting pitcher for the Mets, worked an eventful 4 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned), five hits, four walks and a hit batsman. Second baseman Luisangel Acuna’s throwing error in the third — on a would-be inning-ending double play — allowed a run to score. Although Soto and Pete Alonso reached base a combined six times, the rest of the Mets got on a total of seven times.

For most of the afternoon, the Mets were shut down by Astros lefthander Framber Valdez. He scattered four hits and two walks across seven scoreless innings, his curveball in particular causing the Mets problems.

“Typical Valdez,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He got us today.”

Mendoza blamed Holmes’ mediocrity on his sinker, which “wasn’t there.”

“Especially against a righthanded-heavy lineup like that, he’s going to need that pitch,” Mendoza said.

Holmes said: “My game is built off limiting slug and basically limiting free passes. I really just gave them those extra free passes today that gave them just enough baserunners to create some traffic. If those walks were limited, we have a lot better chance to win the game.”

Holmes threw 89 pitches in his first start since 2018. Those involved can’t and won’t draw conclusions about this in-season experiment based off one game, but it remains an experiment nonetheless.

“It’s a different approach to the game, it’s a different level of endurance,” Holmes said. “The more I get underneath it, the more I’ll start to handle it. I felt like today overall, I was pretty good . . . Now that I’m fully built up, there’s that factor, just continue to build that endurance.”

The Mets’ near-rally in the eighth featured two-out walks to Soto, Alonso and Mark Vientos, bringing up Nimmo as the potential go-ahead run. On the first pitch from righthander Bryan Abreu, he lined hard to centerfield, where Jake Meyers ran it down.

Beginning Friday night, the Mets get 161 more goes at it.

“It’s one game,” Mendoza said. “Got another one tomorrow.”

And Soto will have 2,429 more goes at it over the life of his 15-year contract.

“He’ll come through,” Mendoza said.

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

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.