On Beatles night at Citi Field, the Mets took a long and winding road to defeat.
Another bullpen meltdown keyed Friday night’s 11-9 loss to the Seattle Mariners, spoiling a game in which the Mets overcame three different deficits and got two home runs from Francisco Lindor.
The Mariners tagged high-leverage relievers Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsely and Brooks Raley for six runs, including five in the seventh inning, as the Mets (64-58) suffered their 14th loss in the last 16 games.
Lindor and Juan Soto’s back-to-back home runs in the fourth gave the Mets a 6-4 advantage, and that remained the score going into the sixth.
But it all submarined from there.
No. 9 hitter Cole Young made it a one-run game with a sixth-inning RBI single off of Rogers.
In the seventh, Helsley surrendered a leadoff double to Cal Raleigh on a 101-mph fastball, followed by an RBI double by Eugenio Suárez on a hanging 0-2 slider that tied the score, 6-6.
Raley replaced Helsley, but he wasn’t any sharper. The left-hander gave up an RBI single to Dominic Canzone, an RBI double to Donovan Solano, and a two-out, two-run double to Young that put the M’s up, 10-6.
The Mets revamped their bullpen with last month’s trades for Rogers and Helsley in an effort to shorten games and take pressure off of their starters.
But Friday marked the third consecutive blown save by Helsley, who also squandered a lead and took the loss in Thursday’s 4-3 defeat by the Atlanta Braves.
The hard-throwing Helsley was charged with two earned runs in 1/3 inning and took the loss (3-4) on Friday as well.
Helsley, a two-time All-Star, has now allowed nine runs (five earned) in seven appearances since the Mets acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Friday’s late-inning implosion occurred after Sean Manaea allowed four runs — including two on Raleigh’s MLB-leading 46th home run — in five innings, only for the Mets to repeatedly pick him up.
Lindor’s first-inning solo homer against Mariners starter Luis Castillo erased a 1-0 deficit.
Lindor’s second-inning RBI single capped a two-run rally and gave the Mets a 3-2 lead.
And Lindor’s two-run home run in the fourth turned a one-run deficit into a 5-4 lead. Soto’s subsequent solo shot was his 30th homer of the season.
Lindor finished 3-for-5 with four RBI and is now 9-for-16 with three homers in his last four games. That surge immediately followed an 0-for-21 skid, which included five hitless games in a row.
Frankie Montas made his first relief appearance since the Mets removed him from the starting rotation this week. The veteran right-hander allowed a run on three hits and two walks in two innings.
Francisco Alvarez’s three-run home run in the eighth cut the Mets’ deficit to 11-9, reengaging a crowd of 41,200.
But not enough came together for the Mets to snap their slump.
Friday night’s game doubled as a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ famed Shea Stadium concert on Aug. 15, 1965.
Citi Field commemorated the anniversary by hosting a pregame concert from 1964 The Tribute, playing Beatles music throughout the night, and by distributing replica models of Shea Stadium to the first 15,000 fans in attendance.
The Mets got a little help from the Milwaukee Brewers, who erased a seven-run deficit to beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-8, on Friday. That kept the Mets a half-game ahead of the Reds for the third and final National League wild card.
The three-game series in Queens continues Saturday afternoon, with prized pitching prospect Nolan McLean slated to make his MLB debut for the Mets. All-Star ace Bryan Woo (10-6, 3.08 ERA) is set to start for Seattle.
Originally Published:
