ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Some were scolded, some were hit on the line, some were punched, and some were made to sit on the ground.
It didn’t seem to matter where Rays hitters placed the ball. Against Jose Quintana, everyone found holes.
The Mets quickly fell into a deep hole they could never climb out of Friday night in the series opener against the Rays at Tropicana Field, but their most reliable pitcher in Carlos Mendoza crumbled.
The Mets (16-16) have definitely proven to be interesting, for better or for worse, dropping eight of 12 games.
Following the loss due to a throwout at the bat and the victory with a walk-off double, they led by three points, then fell behind by six points, and then narrowed the gap to two points.
The Mets scored 4 runs in the 5th inning and were just one step away.
In the 9th inning, Starling Marte was brought in to tie the game, and Brett Batty’s second homer took the lead.
But Jason Adam struck out Marte and Quintana took the mound to end what was truly a lost game.
Quintana’s 20th start with the Met was his shortest and worst, giving up 10 hits and eight runs in just 2/3 innings.
Quintana’s ERA ranged from 3.48, even though the average exit velocity of Rays batters (86.9 mph) was slower than the average entry velocity of batters in the left-handed pitcher’s first six games (89 mph). It rose to 5.20.
