Mets fall flat, see win streak end with loss to Diamondbacks
New York Mets' Starling Marte is greeted by Pete Alonso after his two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eighth inning of an MLB baseball game at Citi Field on Saturday, April 16, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Buck Showalter said the best thing about the Mets’ home opener on Friday was winning. But there was more.
“The ‘W’s’ always important,” he said. “And the other part of that, on Opening Day you want the beer to be cold, the hot dogs to be hot, the popcorn to be good, the parking to be easy . . . and people to go home and go, ‘Wow, that was fun. I want to come back.’ “
The fans, 37,935 of them, showed up at Citi Field on Saturday. Hopefully, the beer, hot dogs, popcorn and parking lived up to expectations because the Mets fell flat in a 3-2 loss to the Diamondbacks.
Seth Lugo was booed off the mound after Arizona scored three runs in the seventh to break a scoreless tie.
Starling Marte hit a two-run homer off Ian Kennedy in the eighth to make it 3-2 and pep up the crowd.
A four-pitch walk to Francisco Lindor then sent the rooters into a frenzy. With Pete Alonso up next, Lindor pumped his arms toward the dugout.
“’Let’s go!’ “ Lindor said he told his teammates. “Trying to pump the boys up. Guy on first, one out, with the best power hitter on the team, I’ll take my chances.”
Alas, Alonso hit the next pitch for an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. The Mets went down 1-2-3 in the ninth against closer Mark Melancon and saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.
“We just didn’t score enough runs today, obviously,” Showalter said.
Joely Rodriguez (0-1) was charged with the loss as he gave up an inning-opening single to Seth Beer in the seventh.
Lugo, the losing pitcher on Monday in Philadelphia, allowed a one-out, two-run homer to Sergio Alcantara to give the Diamondbacks a 2-0 lead.
Ketel Marte added a two-out, RBI double off Lugo, whose ERA is 8.31 in five outings.
“We’ve been spoiled by him for a long time here,” Showalter said. “He’s pitched in very meaningful innings already for us this year and he will again. Just wasn’t his day.”
Lugo didn’t lament the pitch to Alcantara, but rather that he fell behind 2-and-0 to the No. 8 hitter.
“Get ahead of guys,” he said. “I thought I made some good pitches. Calls didn’t go my way on a couple guys. Fell behind Alcantara and he hit a 2-and-0 home run. You get ahead, it’s a different ballgame.”
The Mets (6-3) didn’t get a runner to second base until the eighth after bashing four home runs in a 10-3 victory on Friday.
But they continued their amazing run of starting pitching (1.17 ERA). This year, the Mets are getting the Carlos Carrasco they thought they were getting last year.
After an injury-plagued 2021 following his acquisition from Cleveland in the Lindor trade, Carrasco opened 2022 by giving up one run in 5 2/3 innings last Sunday in Washington.
He was even better on Saturday in a slightly shorter outing. In five innings (82 pitches), Carrasco allowed three hits, walked two and struck out eight. He called it his best start as a Met.
The quality of the lineup Carrasco faced was probably a help, too. Here were the pregame batting averages of the Arizona starters: .150, .160, .160, .136, .167, .294, .000, .100, .000.
Alcantara was the .100. That’s baseball.
The .294 was Beer, and he went 3-for-3. But Carrasco was able to bypass the DH in a big spot in the fourth.
Carrasco and righthander Zac Gallen had each thrown three scoreless innings when Marte opened the fourth with a single and moved to third on David Peralta’s double into the rightfield corner.
Carrasco struck out Christian Walker looking and got Pavin Smith on a checked-swing third strike. After an intentional walk to Beer, Carson Kelly hit an inning-ending drive to left that was caught at the lip of the warning track by Jeff McNeil, who was once again pressed into outfield duty with Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha in their second day on the COVID-19 injured list.
An inning later, McNeil crashed into the leftfield wall to take away a potential RBI double from Daulton Varsho. McNeil, who was unharmed, received a rousing ovation from the fans along the leftfield line.
One batter later, with a runner on second, Carrasco slipped and fell while delivering a pitch to Marte. Carrasco, too, was unharmed.
“I think I [stepped] too low on that pitch,” he said. “I was fine.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
