"We're all exhausted, so let's hurry through the first seven or so innings of Sunday's desperate affair against the Rangers: A young pitcher was great, the Mets hit a little though not a lot, Carlos Mendoza made an understandable though anxiety-provoking move to get aforementioned young pitcher out amid early signs that the roof might be weakening, and none of it mattered because normally at least moderately reliable members of the bullpen blew the lead."
"That was the script on Saturday and on Sunday too, with only the names changing Mad Libs style. On Saturday it was Brandon Sproat (blameless young starter); Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto (fitful sources of offense); and Tyler Rogers and Edwin Diaz (blowers of lead). On Sunday it was Nolan McLean (blameless young starter); Francisco Alvarez, Soto and Brandon Nimmo (sources of fitful offense); and Brooks Raley and Reed Garrett (blowers of lead)."
"And the Mets tried their damnedest to engineer a ninth straight loss: In the ninth, Diaz immediately hung a slider to Kyle Higashioka to give the Rangers a leadoff baserunner, with pinch-runner Ezequiel Duran piercing through the usual Diaz Maginot line to steal second and then getting bunted to third by the pesty Cody Freeman. Disaster was at hand, but equally pesty Josh Smith lined a ball straight into Lindor's glove and Duran was trapped off third. Double play, and the Mets had survived."
The Mets received excellent starts from young pitchers but managed only limited offense, with Francisco Alvarez, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo providing sporadic hits. Manager Carlos Mendoza removed a standout young starter when early trouble appeared, prompting anxiety among fans. The bullpen repeatedly surrendered leads, with normally reliable arms such as Edwin Diaz, Tyler Rogers, Brooks Raley and Reed Garrett allowing go-ahead runs. Games on consecutive days followed similar scripts: early Mets leads eroded to losses. Defensive plays occasionally staved off disaster, but the team remains mired in a prolonged losing streak since mid-June.
Read at Faithandfearinflushing
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