The good times at Citi Field started to crumble with each walk, and the positive atmosphere brought on by the fluffy purple mascot, the unexpected hits and, of course, the plethora of wins was upended Saturday when the soundtrack changed from “OMG” to the more familiar “Boo” in the eighth inning.
The targets were Jake Diekman and Reid Garrett, because they couldn’t hit them. Both walked the first two batters they faced. Three of the walks led to runs. They threw so many balls that at one point the umpire embarrassingly lost track of the count and thought pinch hitter Trey Cabbage had been thrown three balls when in fact he had already walked.
That was corrected by replay.
David Stearns is going to have a very hard time solving his bullpen problems.
Two games above .500 and with a chance to compete with the Cardinals for the final NL wild-card spot, the Mets blew an early five-run lead and brought grimaces to fans’ faces again.
“When you give up four walks in the eighth inning, that hurts you, especially against a team with that kind of offensive firepower,” manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Mendoza entered the game with a thin pitching staff, one less pitcher in the absence of suspended Edwin Diaz. Jose Quintana only managed four innings in Friday’s win, forcing four relief pitchers to pitch five innings. That forced Mendoza to use Tyler Megill in the fourth inning, which saw the Mets give up three runs, but Megill worked up a pitch count by walking three of the final seven batters they faced on a Mets staff that has the highest walk rate in the major leagues.
Ty Adcock, acquired on waivers in May and promoted Wednesday, pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings after Megill left the game with one out in the sixth. With a two-run lead, the key for Diekman was to work his way through the less hard-hitting parts of the Astros’ lineup, but he walked Jake Myers and Jeremy Peña in the eighth to protect a 6-4 lead. Garrett, used often if prodigiously, issued two walks, threw a wild pitch that led to a run and worked the count full to allow a two-run game-winning single to Alex Bregman after trailing 0-2.
Both Diekman and Garrett were booed off the mound. Danny Young was booed after allowing another run in the ninth. It was a far cry from the dance party that erupted when Jose Iglesias sang “OMG” after Friday night’s game. But it was a familiar tune this season: too many walks.
The mood around the Mets had been upbeat over the past three weeks, but it was understood that if their success was a sign of true championship contenders, they needed to revamp their relief corps. One reason for this is that their relief pitchers are walking too many batters — 10.4 percent of them going into Game 2 of this series — and their form isn’t strong enough to weather walks and bad counts.
The Mets know they will be without Brooks Raley and Drew Smith this season and have no idea what Diaz will be able to do mentally or physically when he returns from a suspension for a troubling play on July 6.
Stearns has already tried to make some changes, but he’s not done yet: With Christian Scott recalled and Kodai Senga back healthy (Mets officials are more optimistic about that than they have been all season), he could try out either Megill or David Peterson in relief to see if they perform to their potential.
The Mets have left-hander Tyler Jay and right-handers Max Kranick and Eric Ause reporting favorably to Triple-A.
But the Mets have made ample defensive improvements over the past two years and are aggressively moving to add two more full-fledged relief pitchers between now and July 30 at 6 p.m.
Would the Mets like to add more starting pitching? Of course. Everyone would. But the market is thin, and to part with a prospect you have to believe he’ll be part of the postseason rotation. And the Mets aren’t sure they can get anyone better than Senga, Scott, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino in this thin market.
The bigger concern for the Mets is how long Starling Marte needs to recover from a bone bruise in his right knee and what kind of player he’ll be when he returns. Stearns liked Tyrone Taylor from his time with the Brewers and will be interested to see how much he can gain from a month of regular playing time. Again, the Mets will wait to see if the market actually offers something noticeably better.
The relief pitchers were a no-brainer. The Mets were pitching well enough to win their first game against the Astros on Friday night to move one game above .500 in 11 games. But the Mets lost a 6-1 lead on Saturday, again breaking the deadlock, spoiling the good vibes and reminding everyone that “OMG” is easy for Stearns. How you spell RELIEF will decide the game.
