And I find it kinda funny, I find it kinda sad.
The Mets lost a heartbreaker to the Giants 4-3 at Citi Field. The Mets were nearly completely shut down by Robbie Ray, but rallied late to tie the game only to fall in extra innings to a team littered with former Mets.
The Giants plated two runs against David Peterson in the second. Matt Chapman walked to lead off the inning and then Wilmer Flores laced a ball in the gap that Tyrone Taylor did well to cut off and hold him to a single, but Chapman advanced to third on the play. Casey Schmitt then doubled to drive in Chapman for the game’s first run. Jung Hoo Lee made a productive out by hitting a grounder to short that scored Flores and doubled the Giants’ lead. David Peterson settled in after that and that was all he would give up in six innings of work, striking out four batters and walking two.
Meanwhile, the Mets did not record their first hit off Robbie Ray until Mark Vientos singled with one out in the fifth, but nothing came of that rally, despite a two-out single from Luis Torrens as well. The Giants added a run off Ryne Stanek in the seventh on a pair of doubles by Jung Hoo Lee and Patrick Bailey. Stanek did not look sharp and the inning could have ballooned out of control, but Stanek was able to strike out Rafael Devers to hand him the golden sombrero for a key second out and then retired Willy Adames to wriggle out of the inning with limited damage.
The Mets finally broke through against Robbie Ray in the bottom of the inning on a long opposite field solo shot by Pete Alonso that put them on the board. Jeff McNeil doubled with two outs to bring the tying run to the plate and Luis Torrens hit one hard, but right to the right fielder Luis Matos to end the inning. The Mets then rallied to tie the game against a couple of familiar faces in the eighth. Joey Lucchesi—in the game in relief of Robbie Ray—retired his first batter but then walked Brandon Nimmo. Francisco Lindor then singled to put the tying run on base. Juan Soto then hit a hard liner back to the mound that hit off Lucchesi’s foot and eluded Adames, dribbling into center field for a hit. Nimmo scored on the play to bring the Mets within a run. Lucchesi then made way for José Buttó, facing off against his old team in his Giants debut. Pete Alonso hit a fly ball to center deep enough to score Lindor and tie the game with the sacrifice fly. Soto stole second base and Ronny Mauricio worked out a walk, but Buttó got the pinch hitter Brett Baty to ground out to end the inning.
Ryan Helsley then made his Mets debut in the top of the ninth and kept the game tied, working around a couple of singles by recording all three outs of the inning via the strikeout. The Mets went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth against Ryan Walker to send the game to extra innings. With two outs, Cedric Mullins pinch hit for Tyrone Taylor and had the chance to be the hero, but he popped out to end the inning.
Edwin Díaz gave up one unearned run in the top of the tenth via the ghost runner. Matt Chapman grounded out to third to lead off the inning to advance the free runner Adames to third base. Another old friend in Dominic Smith then came through for the Giants with a pinch hit single to score Adames and put the Giants ahead 4-3. Smith then surprised everyone by stealing second base for just the seventh stolen base of his career and Díaz walked Casey Schmitt to make things dicey, but Díaz bounced back to retire the next two batters to give the Mets a chance in the bottom of the tenth.
The Mets threatened in the bottom of the tenth off Randy Rodríguez, but did not score. Brandon Nimmo popped out to lead off the inning and then Rodríguez hit Francisco Lindor with a pitch to put the winning run on base. Rodríguez jammed Juan Soto, getting him to pop out for the second out. That left things up to Pete Alonso, who walked to load the bases for Ronny Mauricio, who had the chance to put a hurting on Rodríguez again, just like he did in San Francisco. But it was not to be this time; Mauricio struck out to end the game.
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Big Mets winner: Pete Alonso, +20.6% WPA
Big Mets loser: Ronny Mauricio, -25.4% WPA
Mets pitchers: +3.3% WPA
Mets hitters: -53.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s RBI single in the eighth that brought the Mets within a run, +24.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dominic Smith’s go-ahead RBI single against Edwin Díaz in the tenth, -14.7% WPA