Mets Can Only Bail Out Their Pitching So Many Times

At a certain point, your chances run out, and you can’t keep getting bailed out. That’s exactly what happened to the Mets today.

In the second Zack Wheeler got himself into trouble. He walked the first two batters of the inning, and he allowed doubles to Jose Iglesias and Jose Peraza in what was a four run inning.

Fortunately, the Mets were up against Tanner Roark.

In the second, Michael Conforto and Wilson Ramos hit a pair of doubles to score a run. Amed Rosario knocked in Ramos to halve the deficit. Overlooked in what has so far been a poor year for Rosario is his delivering in these spots:

In the fourth, the Mets would tie the score because Roark lost it. What’s funny about it is he got two quick outs and was 0-2 on Juan Lagares.

Despite being a fairly free swinger, Lagares drew a walk. After a Wheeler single and Jeff McNeil walk, the bases were loaded for Pete Alonso. Alonso was walked on four straight to pull the Mets within one.

With Roark walking four out of his last five batters, the Reds brought in Wandy Peralta, who walked Brandon Nimmo on four pitches. The rally ended there with Conforto grounding out.

To Wheeler’s credit, he got through six innings despite that difficult second. He’d then hand it to a Mets bullpen who needed a lot of help.

Peraza led off the seventh with a single off Seth Lugo. Peraza would have scored if not for Lagares doing Lagares things to Joey Votto:

In the eighth, Jeurys Familia got into trouble just like he’s done all year. He followed walking Scott Schebler by hitting Iglesias. Tucker Barnhart then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. Todd Frazier made a terrific bare handed play to get the out.

Frazier came up big again later that inning. The Mets intentionally walked Derek Dietrich to load the bases. Peraza then smoked a ball down the line. With the Mets either guarding the lines or shifting (who knows anymore?), Frazier made the play on the backhand, stepped in third, and he threw to first to complete the inning ending double play.

There was pressure on the Mets bullpen to be perfect because the Mets bats went silent. Over the final five innings, the Mets had just one hit and two base runners. None of those hits came after the sixth.

Edwin Diaz came into the ninth in a tie game. After getting two quick outs, Jesse Winker jumped on Diaz’s first pitch, and he hit what proved to be the game winning homer.

What’s interesting about the Reds was they used their closer Raisel Iglesias in a tie game in the eighth. This meant he got the win instead of the save. Funny how that works.

Game Notes: Before the game, Mickey Callaway announced the Mets may move off their limited use of Diaz but not until later in the season.

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