Mets bullpen collapses as team falls to Reds in first game back from All-Star break
The All-Star break ended Friday.
The Mets looked like they still were on vacation until the bottom of the ninth.
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By then, it was too late to salvage their first game out of the break, as some shoddy work by the underbelly of the bullpen left them in too deep a hole to overcome in an 8-4 loss to Cincinnati at Citi Field.
After getting four effective innings from Sean Manaea in his first start of the season, the Mets turned to 28-year-old rookie Alex Carrillo, who put the Mets in a sizable deficit and things only devolved from there.
Carrillo, in just the third game of his major league career, allowed five runs — including three homers — while retiring just four batters.
Carlos Mendoza left his primary relievers out of the game and let Brandon Waddell throw 76 pitches over the final 3 ²/₃ innings.
The Mets scored twice with two outs in the bottom of the ninth before Francisco Lindor popped out with the bases loaded to end it.
The Mets remained a half-game behind the first-place Phillies in the NL East thanks to Philadelphia’s loss to the Angels.
It’s been well-established that even with the return of lefty Brooks Raley on Friday, the Mets’ bullpen was a mess and a prime target to be upgraded by president of baseball operations David Stearns by the July 31 trade deadline.
Friday’s mess against a Reds team that’s won five of its last six games only emphasized that point and provided a disappointing start to the second half by an inconsistent lineup that entered the break having scored more than three runs just once in the previous five games.
On Friday, the lineup hardly got anything going until one out was left in the game.
The Mets started quickly against Cincinnati left-hander Nick Lodolo, as All-Star snub Juan Soto gave the Mets an early lead with a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the first.
They added to their lead in the second when Jeff McNeil knocked in Brandon Nimmo to make it 2-0 before Lodolo settled in and retired 14 of 15 before Nimmo’s infield single to start the bottom of the seventh.
Lodolo allowed just two runs in seven innings.
Manaea, in his first start and second outing with the Mets this season after being sidelined with an oblique strain, as well as an elbow injury, impressed again.
The lefty didn’t allow a hit until Austin Hays led off the top of the fourth with a homer that cut the Mets’ lead to a run.
Manaea allowed just the one run in four innings on 69 pitches before he was replaced by Carrillo to start the fifth.
Carrillo retired the first two batters he faced but got hurt by the top of the Cincinnati lineup, hitting TJ Friedl, then allowing a two-run homer to Matt McLain to put the Reds up 3-2.
Hays homered for the second time in the game, this time off Carrillo, to lead off the sixth, and Tyler Stephenson tacked on a two-run shot to put the Mets in a four-run hole before Carrillo was lifted for Waddell.
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