Coby Mayo's three-run inside-the-park home run in the top of the 11th inning did in the Mets after Pete Alonso hit a game-tying home run off Kodai Senga in the ninth as New York fell 7-5 to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Jonathan Pintaro got a pop-out to left, but walked a man to put runners on first and second for Alonso, but the Mets’ righty got the slugger swinging on a 96 mph heater off the outside corner for the second out. And after getting ahead of Mayo 0-2, he left a cutter over the plate and the O's DH clocked a ball deep to center that A.J. Ewing had a beat on it, but couldn't come up with the ball just off the heel of his glove. It would have been a sensational grab, and instead it went for a 410-foot homer that never left the ballpark.
New York, which managed just one run in response in the home half of the 11th, had many chances, but went 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position and left 13 men on base. Baltimore managed it with four home runs to overcome 17 strikeouts and went 2-for-9 with RISP.
Here are the takeaways...
- Senga, after throwing 24 pitches on Monday night, was called upon to get the save in the ninth, protecting a one-run lead. And after getting pinch-hitter Dylan Beavers to pop up in foul ground fell behind Alonso 2-0. And the ex-Met slugger, who was 0-for-3 to that point with a strikeout, got a hanging Senga forkball and smashed it 414 feet off the face of the second deck in left (109.6 mph off the bat) for the game-tying solo homer, his 300th of his career.
Alonso knew it was gone as soon as he hit it and tossed his bat emphatically toward the home dugout. And after loud chants of his name, which had been the case all night from the home crowd, Alonso came out of the visitors’ dugout for a curtain call. Alonso finished the night 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
Senga would get the next two batters swinging, but the damage was done.
- Daniel Duarte got the 10th and had some tough luck. A Gunnar Henderson bloop to center put runners on the corners. And on a ball in the dirt off Francisco Alvarez’s chest, Christian Encarnacion-Strand darted home. It could have been worse as Alvarez's throw went awry, but Jared Young smartly backed up the play to keep Henderson at second. And that might not have mattered as Duarte got back-to-back strikeouts and a comebacker to keep the deficit at one run after the wild pitch.
- With one out in the bottom of the 10th, Marcus Semien yanked the first pitch he saw over the third-base bag and scored the tying run with a double. After an intentional walk, Christopher Morel, who was 0-for-2 after entering as a pinch-hitter, bounced into a force to put the go-ahead run at third, but Alvarez struck out looking at a sinker over the plate. Alvarez finished 0-for-5 with two strikeouts and left four men on base.
- The Mets jumped on Orioles starter Shane Baz right away as Juan Soto ripped a single up the middle, Bo Bichette followed with one served through the right side, and Benge worked a walk to load the bases with one down in the first.
But they managed just one run, as Young smashed the first pitch he saw to deep center for a sac fly and Marcus Semien flew out to right to strand runners on the corners.
- Ewing just missed an extra-base hit foul down the left field corner to start the second, but then laid down a beautiful bunt single. (His first hit on a bunt in the big leagues.) Brett Baty followed with a single to center, and the Mets had something cooking again.
But they only managed a single run to level the score, as Soto got a spinning cutter up in the zone and drove it into center for a two-strike, two-out single. The Mets opened the game 1-for-5 with RISP, with four left on base. That came back to haunt them.
- Benge wasted no time in the third, socking the first pitch for a solo homer to right (368 feet, 101.8 mph off the bat). He now has 18 homers and 58 RBI during his debut campaign. Benge had a chance to win it in the ninth with two in scoring position and two down, but a broken-bat liner to short sent the game to extra innings. He came up representing the tying run with two down in the 11th, but flied out to the deep part of center to end it, finishing 1-for-5 with the homer, one walk, and two strikeouts.
- Bichette knocked Baz out of the game with a 105.1 mph liner off his pitching elbow to leadoff the home half of the fifth. The ball hit the elbow and landed in the left-field grass for his second hit of the night. But lefty Grant Wolfram picked Bichette off first before he threw a pitch, as he broke for second on first movement.
Bichette had the chance to be the hero with two runners on first and second and one out in the ninth, but bounced into a would-be 5-4-3 double play. However, Encarnacion-Strand inexplicably went for a tag, didn't throw to second, and got only the out at first.
Bichette dropped a two-strike, two-out RBI single in the 11th to finish 3-for-6 on the night.
- Sean Manaea needed 10 pitches to get the Birds 1-2-3 in the first with a strikeout. The lefty gave the lead he got in the first right back as he left two fastballs right down the plate first to Encarnacion-Strand for a solo shot to left, and then Jeremiah Jackson clobbered one 416 feet deep to left-center.
Manaea settled in after that, getting the O’s in order in the third, with Alonso making a bid for an opposite-field homer but managing just the warning track in right. And despite allowing leadoff hits in the fourth and fifth, he sustained no damage and suffered no bother grabbing his fifth and sixth strikeouts of the night in the process.
Manaea got the first out of the fifth, and interim manager Andy Green made the call to the bullpen. His final line: 5.1 innings, two runs, four hits, no walks, and six strikeouts on 67 pitches (48 strikes), dropping his ERA to 4.74 on the year.
- Ewing added a single into center in the eighth to finish 2-for-4 with an intentional walk and a strikeout looking to strand a pair in the fifth.
- Francisco Lindor popped up to third in foul territory and on the infield with two men on in his first two at-bats. He was hitless in four trips to the plate with a walk before he cracked a one-out double to the gap in right-center in the ninth. He finished 1-for-5 with a walk and is still looking for his 300th homer.
- Soto finished 2-for-5 with a strikeout and an intentional walk in the ninth.
- Young smacked a double off the wall in right with two down in the fifth. He finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and was robbed of a hit in the 10th by a great diving play by Alonso at first.
- Semien finished 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. He reached on an error in the eighth and was thrown out at third on Ewing's single after the Orioles challenged the safe call. It was a bang-bang play, and the Mets were unlucky that the call didn't stand.
- Baty went 1-for-2 before being pinch-hit for Morel.
- Austin Warren was the first man out of the ‘pen got three outs, including getting Alonso looking at three straight pitches. (The third was several inches below the zone, but the ex-Met didn’t challenge.)
Nate Lavender entered and got the final two outs of the seventh with a strikeout looking and one swinging. He added another two strikeouts in a clean eighth, needing just 23 pitches (15 strikes) for five outs.
- Several of the players were wearing No. 21 as part of Roberto Clemente Day celebrations around baseball, including Lindor, Bichette, Soto, Semien, and Alonso.
Highlights
What's next
The two foes conclude their rematch of the 1969 World Series on Wednesday night, with first pitch set for 7:10 p.m.
Robert Stock (5.93 ERA, 1.747 WHIP in 30.1 innings) will get the start from the home side against ex-Met Chris Bassitt (4.88 ERA, 1.594 WHIP in 90.1 innings) going for the visitors.