The Mets’ tightrope finally ran out of wire. It was only going to take the injury-riddled team so far.
A day after surviving a 12-inning marathon, the Mets couldn’t pull off similar magic, despite their best efforts. There would be no repeat Houdini act.
A surprisingly strong start from Joey Lucchesi, more impressive work in the field and a gift call weren’t enough to make up for meager offensive production from this group of stand-ins in a 3-1, walk-off loss in Miami.
“That’s what’s keeping us in games, pitching and defense,” manager Luis Rojas said. “We put ourselves in a position to win a ball game today. It just didn’t happen.”
Garrett Cooper’s second two-run homer in as many days, this time with two out in the bottom of the ninth off reliever Drew Smith, gave the Marlins the win in the second game of the three-game series. The Mets (21-18) were fortunate to even be tied going to the bottom of the ninth, after home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez missed a clear third strike on Dominic Smith in the eighth inning, the pitch before he tied the game.
That came after Lucchesi delivered four shutout innings, Sean Reid-Foley provided strong work in relief of him, and Smith and third-string center fielder Johneshwy Fargas each made fantastic defensive plays in the final two innings. Smith closed the eighth by making a diving stab of a grounder and threw from his back to pitcher Miguel Castro covering first base. To start the ninth, Fargas robbed Jesus Aguilar of at least a double with a headlong diving catch in the right-center-field gap.
“We love this team,” Rojas said. “There’s so much excitement each pitch.”
Lucchesi gave the Mets everything they could have asked for. Over four brilliant innings — the longest of his four starts as a Met — the southpaw struck out eight and allowed just one single. He was locating his fastball, getting ahead in the count and using his “churve” to put away the Marlins. At one point, he struck out five straight hitters.
After just 43 pitches, Rojas pulled Lucchesi. They weren’t going to have him throw more than 55 pitches anyway, and Rojas opted to go to his deep bullpen at that point. Lucchesi was somewhat surprised, but understood the move because of his inconsistency so far.
“I kind of get it, but honestly I did feel like I could go a few more,” Lucchesi said. “But I also get it, I need to keep being more consistent.”
Without so many regulars missing — the Mets have 16 players on the injured list, including seven of nine opening day starters — the offense couldn’t muster much. The Mets managed just five hits against Pablo Lopez and two relievers, and just one over the final five innings. They had two runners on base in the same inning only twice — in the first and eighth innings.
“We couldn’t get any momentum. We had one extra-base hit,” Rojas said. “We didn’t really impact the ball to get [another] extra-base hit. We’re that kind of team, though. We’re fast, we have to create things. We got to run around.”
Pinch-hitter Corey Dickerson broke a scoreless tie in the seventh with a shallow sacrifice fly that plated Brian Anderson. Left fielder Cameron Maybin’s throw was on time, but catcher Tomas Nido was unable to hold on after he made the tag.
The Mets got even in the top of the eighth on Smith’s RBI single and Marquez’s blown call. Walks to Jose Peraza and Francisco Lindor gave Smith an opportunity, and Marquez missed a 2-2 Richard Bleier fastball on the outside corner to extend the at-bat. On the next pitch, Smith singled in Peraza to pull the Mets even at a run apiece.
But that’s all the offense they could muster. On Saturday, it cost the Mets — despite everything else that went right.
“It didn’t work out tonight,” Smith said, “but we’re still right there.”
