The Mets won’t fall without a fight, but that just wasn’t enough on Tuesday night.
After temporarily avoiding defeat with a draw at home to Javier Baez at the end of the ninth, the Mets still suffered an overwhelming loss in 11 innings, falling to the Cardinals 7-6 at Citi Field.
Jake Reed, who was activated off the injured list earlier in the day, gave up three runs in three singles in the top eleven after the Mets had already consumed Aaron Loup, Jeurys Family, Trevor May, Edwin Diaz and Heath Hembree for cover four relief entries, with Seth Lugo unavailable due to his recent workload.
Pete Alonso punched a double RBI at the bottom of the 11th to make it 7-5 before the Cardinals intentionally tried to walk Baez. After Jeff McNeil got into the choice of a football field, Kevin Pillar got an error that Alonso scored to get the Mets on a roll.
But Albert Almora, Jr., ended up with the goal for the Mets (72-74) to leave their second straight game with their playoff hopes of having another success – now four games behind the Cardinals (75-69) by in the second wildcard NL with 16 games remaining.
“Quite frustrated,” said Marcus Stroman, who gave up two runs in six innings but was eliminated after 89 pitches. “Obviously, we work very hard and our goal is to make the playoffs and go deeper. I’m definitely not happy at all. “
The Mets had a chance to win it at the end of the 10th after putting the runners in the corners with an out. But Alex Reyes got Francisco Lindor to the ground in a double play, perfectly executed by Paul Goldschmidt, who threw the ball, stepped first and threw home to Yadier Molina, who shot Pillar in a descent to escape the traffic jam.
Stroman’s early departure was one of many launch decisions that left manager Luis Rojas guessing. Rojas didn’t push Stroman toward seventh, citing his great work this season: he started his 31st league-leading game on Tuesday and climbed to 169 innings after not pitching last year.
“I couldn’t go out again,” Rojas said. “Stroman tonight, I was tired of all the tickets I had [been] usat “.
Wolf needed only seven pitches to withdraw the end of the Cardinals’ order in the seventh. But Rojas went to the Family for eighth, entrusting him with a one-run advantage to start the eighth inning for the first time all season, and he liked the way his sinker matched the highest of the order. Instead, Familia turned to Goldschmidt before offering a two-run homer to Tyler O’Neill on a set that turned a 3-2 Mets lead into a 4-3 Cardinals lead.
“At this point in the season, we would love for everyone to leave their arm away from home, it would be ideal for me, but sometimes it’s not real,” Rojas said. “I can’t ask the boys for more. Right now it would be unfair. I can’t put them in a situation where I would compromise anything else: their things, their health. “
Baez had worked his magic at the bottom of the ninth, leading with a solo home run that tied the game 4-4 and featured the crowd of 21,825 singing his name, who responded with a curtain . It was the Mets ’first hit since Baez’s singles game in the first inning.
The Mets ’failed opportunities offensively were also responsible for the loss. Michael Conforto put them ahead 3-2 in the fifth with a sacrifice play after three loaded walks to the bases, but were unable to add when Pete Alonso came out (falling to 0 against 19, which became 0 against 20) before his double of the eleventh entry) and broke the bat on his knee.
“We felt we were going home for a walk [in the 10th]”Rojas said,” but it’s not like that. “