The Mets offense came back twice, but the bullpen returned the lead as New York fell 8-7 to the Mariners on Saturday night at Citi Field.
Here are the takeaways…
–Ronnie Maurice is a hit machine. After going 2-for-3 in his debut, the second baseman hit singles in his first two at bats on Saturday. He even stole a bag, the first of his career.
Mauricio batted righthanded for the first time in his third at bat, but then struckout a swinging batter. He finished 2-for-4.
–David Peterson had his best start of the season in his last game, but he should work hard in this game.
After giving up a solo recording Teoscar Hernandez in the second inning—the field was a slide below the zone where Hernandez was golfing—things would fall apart a bit in the third. After a one out single, Julie Rodriguez would drive a ball into right midfield, Brandon Nimmo It looked like he could hit it and jumped to catch it before crashing into the wall, but missed it allowing the sophomore superstar to hit a triple to put the Mariners up 2-0. Hernandez would hit a two-out single to drive in Rodriguez and put Seattle ahead 3-0.
Peterson’s night wouldn’t last much longer when he struck J. P. Crawford to open the fifth and manager Buck Showalter pulled his starter. That runner would eventually come along to score on a sacrifice fly that was abandoned by the recently recalled runner Grant Hartwig to take a 4-3 lead and make a mark on Peterson’s night.
Peterson threw four-plus innings (77 pitches), gave up four runs on seven hits, no walks and struckout four.
-The Mets offense had a big job Louis Castillo, the right winger who had not lost a game since July 14, and the first three innings went as expected. But Castillo ran into trouble in the fourth.
After a leadoff single from Peter Alonso and a Daniel Vogelbach hit by throw, DJ Stewart hit a line drive home run to center to tie the game at 3–3. It is Stewart’s ninth home run in his last fifteen games. He finished 2-for-5.
The Mets got a chance to tie things up in the fifth Jeff McNeil started with a double. Alonso flew out, but McNeil did advance. Vogelbach was robbed of a hit at second base Jose Caballero dove to get a liner for the second out. Stewart grounded out to end the threat. Castillo went over five innings, his shortest outing since his last loss.
-The Mets bullpen couldn’t keep the score close. After allowing the inherited runner to score in the fifth, Hartwig led off the sixth by batting and a 2-run shot against Dominic Canzone just inside the foul pole in right field. The Mariners would transfer one more run to go up 7-3 after six innings.
But the scruffy Mets would fight back. After Vientos hit a solo homer to make it 7-4, Francisco Lindor launched his 25th home run of the season, a two-run shot, to make it 7–6.
McNeil would hit a game-tyling triple with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, but Adam Ottavino gave up a leadoff homer to Crawford in the ninth to give Seattle an 8–7 lead.
– In the ninth, Vogelbach led off with a single, but was caught trying to stretch it into a double. Stewart followed with a single, but a pinch-hitting Brett Baty jumped out. Francisco Alvarezalso pinch-hitting, grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.
-Baty didn’t start on Saturday. Instead, Showalter chose to go along Mark Vincentos on third base.
Vientos was 2-for-3 with a walk and that solo shot off Castillo in the sixth. He did get some shaky defensive chances at third, including on a hopper that enabled the Mariners’ seventh run to score when his throw brought Alonso to the line.
He would be checked out by a coach after running the bases in the seventh and would be relieved in the eighth inning. After the game, Showalter called it a sore right foot for the young infielder.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets wrap up their three-game series against the Mariners on Sunday afternoon. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:40 PM
Tylor Megill (7-7, 5.29 ERA) will be on the mound for the Mets and he will face RHP George Kirby (10-8, 3.28 ERA).
