Sorry, Cylor

Well, usually I say Happy Monday because Mondays feature a free edition of The Mets Newsletter. But yesterday’s game stunk. Still, the Mets will win again, so you might want to consider a paid subscription so you get TMN daily.

The Mets blew a six-run lead and lost to the Washington Nationals 8-7. It was a repeat of Friday night where Ryne Stanek pitched the ninth and blew the save. The bullpen is no longer dominant.

Things started off wonderfully. Francisco Lindor of course started the game with an infield single. Mitchell Parker just could not get his curveball over for a strike, resulting in walks to both Juan Soto and Pete Alonso. Mark Vientos hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Lindor. A Starling Marte walk loaded the bases again. Brandon Nimmo hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring home Soto. Luis Torrens, now the backup catcher, showed he still deserves some playing time, singling home Alonso. Center fielder Dylan Crews tried to get an out at third, but the ball got away from the third baseman and ended up in the dugout, scoring Marte too. Luisangel Acuña got his own RBI single, bringing in Torrens. 5-0 Mets before they played defense. The Mets added a sixth run in the top of the second. Juan Soto doubled to center. Pete Alonso reached on an infield single. Mark Vientos popped up to the second baseman Luis Garcia Jr. who made a tremendous play, but Soto advanced to third because Garcia Jr. was on the ground for a minute. Starling Marte beat out a possible 6-4-3 double play, scoring Soto. 6-0 Mets.

Tylor Megill was terrific, even though his final line was only considered to be “quality.” He struck out nine in six and one third innings. The only run he gave up while he was on the mound was a Dylan Crews solo home run in the bottom of the second. Going into the bottom of the seventh, up 7-1, Megill was at 93 pitches, but he retired his last ten batters, so Mendoza let him start the inning. Garcia Jr. hit a routine fly ball to right that Juan Soto couldn’t find in the sun. It dropped in for a double. 

Megill then struck out Nathaniel Lowe on a sider, but allowed a crisp single to Josh Bell in center, scoring Garcia Jr. to make it 7-2. Jose Buttó came in and really mucked things up. After striking out Dylan Crews, he allowed a base hit to José Tena to move Bell to second. Alex Call singled to center, scoring Bell to make it 7-3. And then backup catcher Riley Adams homered to right center to suddenly make it just a one-run game. 

The Mets had a golden opportunity in the top of the ninth to add some insurance runs and couldn’t pull through. A Juan Soto single, an Alonso hit by pitch, and then a wild pitch put runners on second and third with nobody out. Vientos grounded out to CJ Abrams at short, who made a fine play. Marte was notably not taken out and replaced by either Jesse Winker or Jeff McNeil. He also grounded out to Abrams. Brandon Nimmo grounded out to second to end the disappointing frame. 

Ryne Stanek came in for the bottom of the ninth. Edwin Díaz threw 22 pitches the day before and apparently that took him out of commission for yesterday. Alex Call led off with a double to right. Pinch hitter Keibert Ruiz advanced pinch runner Jacob Young to third on a grounder to second. CJ Abrams tied the game with a single. After walking James Wood, Luis Garcia Jr hit a grounder to Pete Alonso. Alonso was backing up and Stanek was late to running to first. This was a bad combination: Alonso, who has been so good on defense this season, sailed his throw over Stanek’s head, bringing in the winning run. 

The Mets are 19-9. That’s good. They’re 7-8 on the road. That’s meh. At least they had their inexplicable loss in DC in April this time around. 

All Carlos Mendoza said about Díaz, who despite his struggles is 7 for 7 in save opportunities, was that he was “unavailable.” He wasn’t asked why. 

Juan Soto had an eventful day. He went 2 for 3 with a double, scoring two runs and walking twice. He tied Joe DiMaggio and Tony Gwynn in career walks, in fact. But he also lost that ball in the sun that started the big seventh inning for the Nats.

Megill had his longest start of the season. Throwing 73 of his 105 pitches for strikes helped a lot.

Met starters hadn’t given up a homer in 14 starts going into yesterday’s game. Dylan Crews’ homer off of Big Drip ended that streak.

AJ Minter was placed on the IL with a “left lat strain.” That’s different from what they said on Saturday. This isn’t great - Frankie Montas suffered a lat injury in late February/early March and he’s still on the mend. Minter was replaced on the roster with Jose Ureña, who had been starting games for Triple-A Syracuse. The speculation is Ureña will be used coming out of the bullpen until the Mets call someone up to be a sixth starter next week. That someone will probably be lefty Brandon Waddell, because the Diamondbacks don’t hit lefties well.

Will Sammon of The Athletic talked to rival executives about Pete Alonso.

Daniel Murphy has been decent in the broadcast booth, but he has a tendency to spin everything into a positive. A Met batter could hit into a triple play and he’d say it was a good hitting approach (maybe not the best example considering Friday’s incident). Okay, sure. Also, he’s a homophobe, so that sucks. 

Ronny Mauricio was placed on a minor league rehab assignment with the Low-A St. Lucie Mets. He went 1 for 3 with a single and stolen base in his first professional game since 2023. It begins.

A.J. Ewing, Marco Vargas, and closer Chandler Marsh were promoted from Low-A St. Lucie to High-A Brooklyn. Pitcher Zach Thornton got promoted from High-A Brooklyn to Double-A Binghamton. Congrats to them all.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets won Game 1 of their doubleheader against the Worcester Red Sox 6-5. Right fielder Rafael Ortega went 3 for 3 with a home run and a double. Drew Gilbert made a diving catch. Blade Tidwell started. He went four and two thirds innings, allowing four earned runs. He walked nobody and struck out nine, however. 

Game 2 was a whooping by the SMets. They scored 12 runs in the first inning - and didn’t blow it! They won 20-12. Donovan Walton went 3 for 5 with a home run. Brett Baty (memba him?) went 2 for 4 with two doubles. Jared Young went 2 for 4 with a home run and 5 RBI. Gilberto Celestino went 2 for 4. Jakson Reetz homered twice, going 3 for 4 with 7 RBI. Some of the pitching was ugly. Justin Hagenman started. He threw two innings and allowed seven earned runs. Sean Reid-Foley lowered his Triple-A ERA to 6.14 at least.

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies held on to defeat the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays affiliate) 2-1. Third baseman William Lugo went 3 for 4 on the day. Jonah Tong was terrific. He pitched for four scoreless innings, walked nobody, allowed just one hit, and struck out ten batters.

The Jersey Shore Blueclaws (Phillies) beat up on the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones 12-7. Carson Benge went 2 for 5. Jefrey De Los Santos homered. Prospect Jonathan Santucci got rocked. In one and a third innings he served up five earned runs on just three hits (two were homers). He walked two and struck out nobody. 

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets lost to the Daytona Tortugas (Reds) 8-4. Nate Dohm was tagged with the loss despite allowing zero earned runs. He pitched for three and two thirds innings, walking three and striking out five. 

The Mets will try and split the series in DC late this afternoon. Griffin Canning (3-1, 3.04 ERA) will start for New York. Ex-Met Trevor Williams (1-2, 5.11 ERA) will go for the Nationals. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY.