The future may look bright for the Mets, but the present continues to get more and more bleak.
The Mets got six scoreless innings from standout rookie Brandon Sproat on Saturday in his second career start, only for their bullpen to implode in a back-breaking 3-2 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Wyatt Langford’s two-out RBI single against Edwin Diaz in the ninth proved to be the game-winner, extending the Mets’ losing streak to a season-high eight games as their playoff hopes hang in the balance.
It’s the eighth game the Mets (76-73) have lost after leading after the seventh inning.
The Mets led, 2-0, going into the eighth, but reliever Tyler Rogers quickly ran into trouble.
Josh Smith reached base on catcher interference by Francisco Alvarez to lead off the inning, and Langford’s ensuing double put runners at second and third. Joc Pederson followed with a sacrifice fly, cutting the Mets’ lead to 2-1.
Rogers struck out Jake Burger for the second out of the inning, and manager Carlos Mendoza turned to Diaz for a four-out save.
But Diaz faltered.
He threw a wild pitch that allowed Pederson to go to third, then walked Josh Jung before Rowdy Tellez drilled a game-tying ground-rule double. Had Tellez’s line drive not bounced into the right-field stands, the winning run may have scored, too.
The game remained tied, 2-2, going into the bottom of the eighth, and the Mets had a chance to retake the lead when Brandon Nimmo led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error by Jung.
But Brett Baty struck out on four pitches against Chris Martin for the first out, and Alvarez grounded out for the second. The inning ended when Cedric Mullins struck out against ex-Mets reliever Phil Maton, stranding two runners on base.
That set the stage for the Rangers’ ninth-inning rally against Diaz.
Cody Freeman led off with a single that glanced off of a leaping Francisco Lindor’s glove, then moved to second on a bunt by Michael Helman. Diaz struck out Smith for the second out, but Langford followed with the go-ahead single on an 0-1 fastball.
The Mets threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but Brandon Nimmo struck out against Shawn Armstrong for the final out, leaving the tying run at third base.
All of that squandered a stellar start by Sproat, who recorded three strikeouts, did not issue a walk and demonstrated veteran-like poise as he worked out of multiple jams.
Pitching for the first time at Citi Field, the 24-year-old Sproat deployed a six-pitch mix that included a mid-90s sinker and a swing-and-miss sweeper to induce eight groundouts.
He threw 53 of his 70 pitches for strikes. Texas finished 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position against Sproat and left five men on base.
Sproat’s start against Texas went much better than fellow rookie Jonah Tong’s, as the latter surrendered six runs in ⅔ of an inning in the Mets’ 8-3 loss on Friday night.
The Mets led, 1-0, when Sproat exited, and they went up 2-0 when Juan Soto drilled a 414-foot solo home run off of Hoby Milner in the seventh.
This is the second consecutive season that Soto has reached 40 homers. He’s now one shy of the career-high 41 he hit last year with the Yankees.
Soto is the fifth player in Mets history to record a 40-homer season, joining teammate Pete Alonso — who’s done it three times — Mike Piazza, Carlos Beltrán and Todd Hundley.
But that wasn’t enough for the Mets, who are now 31-49 since June 12.
The Mets entered Saturday clinging to the final wild card position by a half-game over the San Francisco Giants and 1.5 games over the Cincinnati Reds.
The Giants and Reds are both playing on the West Coast this weekend, and neither of their games had started Saturday by the time the Mets’ ended.
