Let’s rewind to the exact situation. David Peterson had retired 17 in a row and was at 83 pitches. The Mets had a 2-0 lead entering the bottom of the eighth with the bottom of the order due up.

The Tampa Bay Rays 7-8-9 hitters were particularly terrible. Here’s now they had faired in the game up to that point:

• Mike Zunino 0-for-1, BB
• Kevin Padlo 0-for-2, 2 K
• Brett Phillips 0-for-2, 2 K

Simply put, Peterson dominated this trio. He had not thrown many pitches, and since the second inning, Peterson was literally generating pop outs, ground outs, and strikeouts.

There was absolutely zero reason to believe the Rays could mount any realistic threat in the eighth. That goes double when you look at the hitters careers:

• Zunino – 72 wRC+ since 2018
• Padlo – Zero career hits
• Phillips – career 71 wRC+

There was absolutely zero reason to anticipate trouble. Peterson’s pitch count was down, and the batters due up were dreadful. To put things in perspective for Mets fans, Eric Campbell with his career 80 wRC+ would’ve been a better option.

Seeing it that way, Luis Rojas was right to send Peterson out for the eighth. That’s even the case with no safety net.

Remember, this isn’t the postseason. You don’t just get guys up and throwing just in case. You’re managing for 162 games, and the Mets are slated for a bullpen game.

The Mets needed Peterson to get through that eighth, and again, there was no reason to believe he couldn’t. Of course, with this being baseball, he didn’t.

Zunino, who has a career .387 SLG against LHP in his career homered. Padlo, who was 0-for-10 in his career doubled. It sucks, but it happens.

From there, Peterson struck out Phillips (who failed in his bunt attempts), and he was relieved by Trevor May. Obviously, no one is going to question that because no one wanted Peterson going through the lineup a fourth time.

Remember, at that time, the Mets still had a 2-1 lead. It was a hard out, but May retired Randy Arozarena. That left May facing Manuel Margot, who is a career .240/.289/.373 hitter off RHP. He’s also a career .232/.316/.297 hitter with two outs and RISP.

This is the exact match-up you want. You wanted May to get an overmatched Margot to get out of the inning, so the Mets could go to Edwin Diaz in the ninth.

Instead of ending the inning, Margot hit a game tying double. May just stumbled here after being great all season. Again, it happens.

This is what caused Mets fans fury. They expected Rojas to not let Peterson start the eighth or to not permit him to pitch against a batter with zero career hits.

Even if you had a preference, that’s not the same as saying Rojas blew it. Rojas had made sound decisions and put his pitchers in a position to succeed.

They just didn’t. It happens.

The same goes for Jeff McNeil failing to deliver with two on and two out in the second. McNeil hit a one out double in the eighth, but Michael Conforto and Francisco Lindor failed to drive him home.

Failing to deliver those insurance runs proved costly. Even more costly was James McCann grounding out with two out and two on in the ninth.

That’s emblematic of what happened in the eighth. The Rays delivered in the big spots, and the Mets didn’t. That’s on the players, not the manager.

In the end, Peterson allowed extra base hits to two flat out bad hitters. May couldn’t get a batter who couldn’t hit RHP out. The Mets couldn’t get the key hit they needed to expand or reclaim the lead.

That’s what happened, and it’s difficult to pin the Mets inability to deliver in these spots on the manager. Overall, there is plenty of blame to go around, but none of I should be directed at the manager.

Rojas managed that game well, and he put his team in a position to win. His players just didn’t take advantage. It’s just time to move past this game and start a new winning streak. With Rojas at the helm, they should.