Final Score: Red Sox 8 Mets 6 (Fenway Park, Boston Massachusetts)
Mets record: 46-52
Mets streak: Lost 1
WP - James Paxton (6-2)
LP - Max Scherzer (8-4)
S - Kenley Jansen (21)
Seat on the Korner: Triston Casas
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Boston's rookie first baseman, who has been hot of late, homered twice off Max Scherzer, batting in three, including the home run that put the Bosox ahead for good in the sixth.
Need to Know
Jeff McNeil had a "Little League home run" in the bottom of the third, hitting a single up the middle, driving in Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. Red Sox catcher Jorge Alfaro, trying to catch McNeil heading into second, threw the ball into the outfield. With centerfielder Jarren Duran to the right of second, having made the throw to the plate to try to get Alonso, the ball rolled to the outfield fence, allowing McNeil to score.
Francisco Alvarez, catching both halves of the single-and-a-halfheader, looked lost at the plate in his first three at bats before singling in the ninth. Alvarez' earlier at bats looked like the ones he had when he was first called up -- overanxious swinging at anything that was thrown. Maybe the hit in the ninth will straighten him out.
Tommy Pham remained on the bench, but not on the IL. It's unclear when he will be able to return.
Danny Mendick was called up from AAA Syracuse between games to replace IL-bound Luis Guillorme, amid many jokes by the broadcasters about whether the Uber bringing him to Boston would get there in time. Which raises the serious question: With all his money and all his free spending, couldn't owner Steve Cohen foot the bill for a private jet?
Turning Point
With the score tied at 3, Max Scherzer walked Raphael Devers to start the sixth and then gave up a massive home run to Triston Casas, the Bosox first baseman's second of the game and the fourth dinger off Scherzer.
Three Keys
On a night when the Mets needed innings from their starting pitcher, Max Scherzer gave them a somewhat disappointing six, an outing marked by its the four home run balls that led to five Red Sox runs. Home runs continue to be a problem for Scherzer: he has given up 20 so far this year, as opposed to 13 all of last year. Manager Buck Showalter was forced to call on the bullpen's soft underbelly for the seventh; Trevor Gott was shelled and only lasted a third of an inning before giving way to Josh Walker, the extra player added to the roster because of the doubleheader.
The Mets made it interesting in the ninth that saw a Pete Alonso triple that preceded singles by the "baby Mets" -- Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos--and brought the tying run to the plate. Daniel Vogelbach, pinch hitting for D.J. Stewart, fouled out to the left fielder Masataka Yoshida, to end the game.
Pete Alonso showed signs of breaking out of his months-long slump, doubling and tripling. Could a Green Monster home run Sunday complete the return?
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