NEW YORK — The Mets had no actual manager on Wednesday evening, though that wasn’t nearly as big a problem as having no offense for six innings. Or working around ineffective pitching, for that matter.
On a night when they were without Buck Showalter and bench coach Glenn Sherlock – the former because he was undergoing a medical procedure and the latter because he was still on the COVID-19 injured list, the Mets looked to a committee of coaches and analysts to help make the call. But no amount of strategy was going to wake up their bats, which folded against the Giants' formidable pitching, as they lost, 5-2, at Citi Field.
But though it was hardly pretty, it wasn’t exactly disastrous, either. The Mets remain one of the hottest teams in baseball after winning their previous three. And given his track record and his final two innings, Chris Bassitt’s brutal start looked to be an anomaly: He allowed five runs, all earned, and eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts over six, but retired the final seven batters to face him, four on strikeouts. It was the first loss this year for a member of the Mets rotation, which came into the day 7-0 with an MLB-best 1.56 ERA.
Meanwhile, the Mets offense, which entered Wednesday with a .350 on-base percentage, also the best in baseball, went positively limp against Carlos Rodon. The lefthander didn’t allow a run over five innings, with three hits, two walks and eight strikeouts. The Mets scored both their runs off the Giants bullpen, which came into the day with the lowest ERA in the majors.
Pete Alonso went 3-for-4, and Francisco Lindor's on-base streak this year ended at 12. Starling Marte had an RBI single in the seventh, but attempted to steal second with two outs, a runner on third and Lindor at the plate to kill that rally.
They scored another run in the eighth, on three straight one-out singles by Alonso, Eduardo Escobar, and Mark Canha, who returned from the COVID-19 list and drove in the run in his first game at Citi Field as a Met. Robinson Cano moved the runners over on a groundout but Dominic Smith, pinch hitting for Luis Guillorme, lined a hard-hit ball to left that was caught on the fly by Wilmer Flores.
Before the rough outing, Bassitt, who was making his Citi Field debut as a Met, had not allowed more than three hits in any of his last six starts, for a total of five runs – a span dating to last August. This game against the Giants was the first time he had allowed more than three runs in his last eight starts, a feat he accomplished in just 18 pitches Wednesday.
Mike Yastrzemski led off the game with a single, Bassitt walked Darin Ruf with one out, and then Joc Pederson laced a double to score the first run. Bassitt then gave up back-to-back singles, both over Alonso’s outstretched glove, to make it 3-0. Thairo Estrada bunted a slow roller to the right side of the infield next, and Alonso was able to get the out at home, and Steven Duggar hit into a force out at second to keep the Giants' lead where it was.
The Giants, who mostly scored their early runs through soft contact, got their big bop in the second, when Bassitt floated an 87.8-mph cutter down the middle to Brandon Belt, who hit it off the second deck in right for a 4-0 advantage. Yastrzemski added an RBI single in the fourth.
The Mets didn’t pose a significant threat until the fourth, when Alonso singled with one out and Escobar worked a 10-pitch walk. Canha, though, struck out looking, and Rodon struck out J.D. Davis swinging to strand the runners.
They finally scored after putting two on with two outs against reliever John Brebbia in the seventh. Dominic Leone came on to pitch and allowed a bloop single to Marte to make it 5-1. Marte, though, inexplicably attempted to steal and was easily thrown out by Joey Bart for the final out of the inning.
