Prior to Sunday, a bright and warm afternoon at a packed-out Citi Field, the Mets had been 6-0 in rubber matches this season. That record was snapped when the Mets lost their first series of the year in a 8-7 defeat to the Mariners.
The Mets (23-13) opened the weekend’s series hosting Seattle as the only team in MLB to have avoided losing a series. The run, which was broken on Sunday, was the Mets’ longest span in franchise history to open a season without losing a series — surpassing the 1998 Mets, who did not lose any of their first eight series.
“It puts it in perspective how hard it is,” said Mets manager Buck Showalter on losing their first series, 11 matchups into the season. “When you’re playing against the best players in the game, winning in nine innings, it’s hard. I think our guys appreciate how hard it is to do and how it can ebb and flow over the course of the season. You try to keep a grip on reality and a sense of maturity on what reality is.”
Carlos Carrasco set the tone Sunday for a Mets pitching staff that struggled to put up zeroes. The veteran right-hander allowed traffic on the basepaths in four of the five innings he attempted to navigate. In the fourth, Carrasco loaded the bases with nobody out and allowed all three runs to score. By the fifth, when the Mets tried to hang onto a one-run lead, Carrasco’s double to Jesse Winker was the final straw for Showalter, who pulled the righty after 4.1 innings for his second-shortest outing of the year.
“I was off a little bit today,” Carrasco said. “I couldn’t control my slider. … They just got me.”
What was once an ear shattering and boisterous Citi Field crowd, flashing an announced attendance of 38,476, was mostly silenced after the sixth inning. Chasen Shreve allowed the Mariners to tie the game and Drew Smith later in the sixth gave up the lead, but it all started on the 114 mile per hour bullet of a home run off the bat of Julio Rodriguez. Shreve, for the second time in as many days, coughed up a game-tying dinger to Seattle before he exited, with a runner on first, for Drew Smith. But the right-hander also struggled.
Smith entered the Mariners series with a perfect ERA but a pair of suboptimal relief outings over the weekend spoiled that scoreless run. Smith allowed his first run of the season to , in the team’s first loss to Seattle behind a terrific start from Max Scherzer, and his two-run shot to Cal Raleigh in the sixth inning on Sunday heightened his ERA to 1.20.
Disappointing results were the theme of the Mets pitching staff in the series finale, as four out of five used arms were tabbed for at least one earned run on Sunday. The Mets bullpen, featuring Shreve, Smith and Joely Rodriguez, combined for four earned runs. Colin Holderman, who was from Triple-A Syracuse hours before Sunday’s first pitch, was the only Mets pitcher to avoid giving up a run.
“That’s a good team over there. I’m surprised by their record,” Brandon Nimmo said of the Mariners (16-19). “They fought us really well this weekend. … Unfortunate to lose the first series of the year but it was probably going to happen at some point. Now we got it out of the way, and now we can move forward.”
The Mets offense had impressed in the early innings, tacking on runs for Carrasco and answering back whenever Seattle scored. But after J.D. Davis and Nimmo both collected two-run triples in the fourth inning, the latter giving the Mets a one-run lead, the Amazin’s bats went cold all the way until the ninth inning.
Left-hander Robbie Ray, veteran right-hander Sergio Romo, former Met Paul Seawald and closer Drew Steckenrider combined to retire 14 consecutive Mets from the end of the fourth inning until one out in the ninth. Eduardo Escobar punched a ninth-inning triple to right field and Jeff McNeil plated him with an RBI single, but two outs away from their 13th loss of the season, the late rally fell short.
Nimmo trimmed their deficit to 8-7 with an RBI double, but Starling Marte followed by striking out and the Mariners opted to intentionally walk Francisco Lindor to face none other than Pete Alonso. The Mets slugger got the count to 3-2, but struck out on a half-swing against a Diego Castillo slider to wrap up the loss, despite the attempted late-game heroics.
“I was really excited because I love being put in those pressure situations,” Alonso said of his reaction when Lindor was intentionally walked. “I love that, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. (Castillo) executed. It stinks to end the game that way, especially on a pitch I was trying to hold up on, and it would’ve put us in a really good spot, but oh well. Gotta move on.”
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