Bumbling Mets implode in the 8th inning, suffer stunning 7-6 loss to the Phillies – The Denver Post

PHILADELPHIA — The 2023 Mets haven’t often been able to get out of their own way. Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies, it was no different.

Francisco Lindor homered and Pete Alonso hit his league-leading 24th homer, and the Mets were almost able to overcome an inefficient start by Carlos Carrasco. But they couldn’t overcome an infield error and three walks a hit batter by two relievers in the eighth inning. The Phillies scored four runs on only one hit in the eighth to come back from a 6-3 deficit to win 7-6 and take the series, 2-1.

It was another stunning loss for the Mets (35-42) in a season full of them.

Rookie left-hander Josh Walker and right-hander Jeff Brigham were struggling just to throw strikes. The Phillies loaded the bases five times, but the Mets were saving David Robertson, their best high-leverage reliever, for the ninth inning. Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley were unavailable after pitching Saturday.

“Robby couldn’t pitch the inning and we didn’t have anybody else to pitch. That was it,” said manager Buck Showalter. “We were down to our last bullet. I didn’t want to use Nittoli. We didn’t have Raley or Otto today.”

Alonso’s home run came off left-hander Jose Alvarado in the seventh to put the Mets up 6-3, but his opposite-field blast wasn’t enough.

Walker ran into trouble, loading the bases in the eighth without getting an out. Another defensive miscue, this one by Brett Baty at third, cost the Mets a run.

Brigham replaced Walker and got Alec Bohm to roll over on a cutter. It was a double-play ball and Brett Baty fielded the grounder cleanly but froze when it came time to throw. Baty didn’t get the ball out in time to turn it and his throw pulled Jeff McNeil off the second base bag and not only allowed Bryce Harper to score but it loaded the bases once again.

“I just couldn’t get it out of my glove,” Baty said. “There is really no excuse. That play needs to be made 10 out of 10 times. It cost us the game. It cost us a series. It cost us a lot of momentum that we had coming in from yesterday. It was bad.”

Brigham then walked in a run to cut the lead to 6-5. He struck out Edmundo Sosa but hit Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner to give the Phillies (40-37) a 7-6 lead. It was as ugly as it sounds.

“I was trying to go in on Schwarber with the cutter but I yanked it and it caught his knee there. I was trying to throw a slider to Turner and just backed it up a little bit.”

Three runs were charged to Walker. One was charged to Brigham (0-2). It was the second time in club history a Mets pitcher has hit two batters back-to-back with the bases loaded and the first time since 2007.

Brigham struggled to grip the baseball in the humidity. With two Mets having already been suspended for the misuse or excessive use of rosin (Drew Smith is currently suspended for it), Mets pitchers are being extra cautious about their rosin use.

“Later on, especially to Trea, I was backing up all of my pitches and struggling more with the grip,” Brigham said. “At the end of the day, I need to make an adjustment with my mechanics and just make sure I get it out there, especially when I was backing up multiple pitches in a row.”

Using Robertson to face the heart of the Philadelphia order wouldn’t exactly defy convention. Showalter deployed a similar tactic in the seventh inning during last year’s NL Wild Card series, using Edwin Diaz in the seventh, which was deemed the more important inning to lock down.

Maybe it was Showalter’s decision alone to decide who could and could not pitch this weekend. More than likely, it was a group decision made by Showalter, the front office and the training staff. Regardless, the decision backfired and the Mets were ultimately left with pitchers who were ineffective in that crucial inning.

“Robby was going to pitch the ninth inning if we could get there,” Showalter said. “That was all we had available. We don’t have another pitcher. We’ve only got X number of pitchers to pitch today. We don’t have everybody. That’s really what it is. That’s another problem with (Drew Smith) being gone. I can’t use (Vinny) Nittoli unless we got in the situation we got in. He’s not equipped to pitch there. We have somebody tomorrow but now we don’t.”

Carrasco was better than his last time out but still failed to give the Mets length. The right-hander limited the Phillies to two earned runs on five hits, walked two and struck out five over only four innings. He used 78 pitches and the Mets went to Dominic Leone in the fifth instead.

The Mets nearly handed right-hander Zack Wheeler his fourth straight loss against his former club, scoring five runs on seven hits, but he was taken off the hook.

Showalter was ejected in the ninth. It showed fire, but also frustration in a season that has seemingly gone off the rails.

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