The bats came alive too late and bullpen gave up one too many runs.
The Mets were riding high, winning eight straight home games and having had a real offensive windfall the night before. They could win yet another series facing the Diamondbacks and their prize offseason acquisition, Corbin Burnes, who had yet to win a game for the Diamondbacks this season. The Mets were starting with Huascar Brazobán, though he was opening with the plan being that recent call-up Brandon Waddell would get the bulk of the innings during the game.
In the top of the first, Brazobán set down the top of the Diamondbacks lineup in order. Francisco Lindor led off the bottom of the inning with a double. Juan Soto lined out for the first out, but Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos each drew walks to load the bases with only one out. Starling Marte struck out and Jeff McNeil grounded out to end the inning with the bases loaded. Other than a Josh Naylor one-out walk, Brazobán had a similarly quiet second inning, his final frame of the game. Tyrone Taylor got a two-out single in the bottom of the inning, but the Mets got nothing else done and the game remained scoreless after two.
Brandon Waddell came in to pitch in the third, his first major league appearance since 2021. And other than a one out Garrett Hampson single and two-out stolen base by Hampson, Waddell kept the Diamondbacks quiet in his first inning back in the major leagues. In the bottom of the inning Vientos hit a two-out solo home run to finally break the tie and put the Mets ahead. That was all for the third inning, but the Mets ended the first third of the game with a lead.
In the fourth, Waddell gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Naylor and Gabriel Moreno, but he ended the inning without allowing either to score and keeping the Mets with the lead. McNeil led off the bottom of the inning with a walk but he was stranded by three consecutive outs. Waddell had his best inning yet in the fifth, a perfect inning with a strikeout. Burnes struggled in the bottom of the inning, with Lindor getting a leadoff single, and Soto replacing him with a forceout. Soto advanced on a third disengagement, and Alonso walked to put two runners on, but Vientos grounded into a double play to end the inning before the Mets could tack on any more runs.
Waddell had another perfect inning in the sixth, keeping the Mets ahead by a run. Burnes had a better go at it in the sixth, with only a two-out walk of Francisco Alvarez on his record, and that was quickly made moot by a Luisangel Acuña strikeout.
In the seventh, Waddell got a strikeout of Naylor for his last out of the day. Stanek came in and immediately ran into trouble. He got the second out, his first of the day, then allowed a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. single and a Jorge Barrosa double to put two runners in scoring position. Geraldo Perdomo came in to pinch hit for Hampson, and he got a two-run single to put the Diamondbacks ahead. Perdomo stole second but Tim Tawa lined out to end the inning. The Mets tried to get their lead back in the seventh with Burnes out of the game in favor of Jalen Beeks. Taylor singled and stole second to start the inning, but LIndor and Soto each got outs to put the Mets in the corner. Kevin Ginkel was brought in to face Alonso, and Alonso walked to put two runners on for Vientos. Vientos struck out, however, unable to capitalize on the opportunity to tie the game or go ahead with just two innings to go.
In the eighth, Chris Devenski made his Mets debut after being called up a few hours earlier, and other than a two-out double from Eugenio Suárez, he made it through the inning without much trouble. Shelby Miller came out to pitch for the Diamondbacks in the bottom of the inning, and despite a one-out McNeil single, he made it through with Arizona’s lead still intact.
Devenski had a worse go of it in the ninth. Moreno led off with a walk, then Gurriel doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Gurriel was replaced by Alek Thomas as a pinch runner. Barrosa and Perdomo both hit sacrifice flies which tacked on two more runs to Arizona’s lead, and Devenski struck out Tawa to stop the bleeding. Justin Martínez to close the game for the Diamondbacks. Taylor led off with a solo home run to cut the lead to two. Lindor and Soto drew back-to-back walks to put two runners on with no outs for Pete Alonso. Martínez was then pulled in favor of Ryan Thompson. Alonso was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After a strikeout by Vientos, Winker grounded out to first to drive in another run and cut the lead to one (Winker believed the ball hit his foot first and was a foul but the call was confirmed after a discussion by the umpires). McNeil was intentionally walked to load the bases and bring up Alvarez, who grounded out to end the game.
The Mets ended their eight game win streak at Citi Field, and moved to 21-10 on the season. The Mets are still in first in the East, and are tied with the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. They can still win the series tomorrow, with Kodai Senga taking the mound against Zac Gallen, who has historically been one of Arizona’s (and the league’s) best pitchers, though he’s struggled so far this season with a 5.57 ERA in six games.
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Big Mets winner: Brandon Waddell, +30.1% WPA
Big Mets loser: Ryne Stanek, -40.5% WPA
Mets pitchers: -7.8% WPA
Mets hitters: -42.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pete Alonso hit by pitch in the ninth, +17.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Geraldo Perdomo’s two-run single in the seventh, -36.1% WPA