A Fitting End to the First Half: Mets Lose in Extras After Blowing Game-ending DP

Red Sox 3 Mets 2, 10 Innings (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 40-57

Mets streak: Lost 3

WP -Aroldis Chapman (1-3)

LP - Brooks Raley (4-4)

SV - Garrett Whitlock (2)

Seat on the Korner: Zach Thornton

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

The last time Zach Thornton took the mound for the Mets, he went six innings, allowing only one earned run against the Phillies while striking out seven, and all it earned him was a trip back to Syracuse because the team needed his roster spot for a reliever.

After today's performance, maybe the team will realize Thornton should stay -- not only on the roster, but in the starting rotation. Thornton did all you could have asked -- and more: seven shutout innings (only the eighth time in 97 games that a Met starter has gone seven); two hits (the last time a Met rookie pitched that many innings while allowing into two hits was Kodai Senga, back when batters were scared of the ghost fork); and an incredibly economical 82 pitches (Freddy Peralta gets there in the third). Thornton showed poise -- not flinching when Eric Wagaman dropped a foul pop that would have ended the seventh.

In short, Thornton was everything David Peterson once was, everything Jon Niese once was, everything Jerry Koosman once was. Okay, so it's only two games, but for once we hope David Stearns listens to the fans, who are clamoring: We want more.

Need to Know

• The Mets' record at the 2025 All-Star Break was 55-42. Their record since then is 68-94.

• The Mets have lost five of their last seven games at Citi Field...They are now 21-28 at home this year.

• The Red Sox extended their winning streak to nine games.

•  Juan Soto, the Mets' lone representative at the All-Star game, will be making his second career All-Star start and his fifth overall on an All-Star roster. Soto, a Yankee at the time, started the 2024 All-Star Game for the AL.

• Red Sox starter Payton Tolle threw two wild pitches in the first inning, both times advancing a runner to third. The Mets were able to cash in only one of those miscues.

• Payton Tolle's glove carries the inscription, "You're So Pretty." It's a tribute to his mother, Gina, who passed away in 2024. When Tolle was a child, his mother would stand during games and shout to him, "You're so pretty."

• Bo Bichette was again out of the starting lineup because of major bruising on his leg. He had started every game prior to Friday. He pinch hit in the 10th and hit into the game-ending groundout.

• Interesting midseason stat: Mark Vientos (on the IL with a broken hand) ranks third in MLB with 13 successful ABS challenges. Juan Soto is tied at 18th, with nine. Vientos' 13 successes came from 23 challenges, Soto's from 15. The MLB leader: Cincinnati's Sal Stewert, with 23 successes -- but in a MLB leading 37 challenges. That's a 62 percent success rate; Vientos' is 57 percent. As a team, the Mets rank 19th overall, with a 49.2 percent batter success rate and a 53.9 percent pitcher/catcher success rate.

• The Mets lead off post-All Star break action Thursday in Philadelphia.

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Turning Point

In a season when it seems like everything that could possibly go wrong, does, add this to the list. With the Mets clinging to a 2-0 lead, Ceddane Rafaela led off the ninth with a single to left. Wilyer Abreu popped out, and Romy Gonzalez hit a ground ball to shortstop Francisco Lindor that should have produced a game-ending double play. Only......this is 2026, and instead of converting the twin killing, Lindor booted the ball. Everybody was safe and you just knew the floodgates had been opened and the hot Red Sox would take advantage. Which is exactly what they did.

Three Keys

Pitching Scared

Maybe David Stearns should have given more weight to how Devin Williams performed last year when he was a New York Yankee. Or how he performed when he faced Pete Alonso in the playoffs in 2024. Because if you look at his record from a New York perspective, Williams has a track record of buckling under pressure -- which is exactly what he did in the ninth inning of today's game. Instead of picking up the team -- as rookie starter Zach Thornton did when Eric Wagaman dropped an inning-ending foul pop in the seventh -- Williams crumbled after Lindor's error on a potential game-ending double play, walking the next two batters to plate one run. The bases loaded situation forced the Mets to bring the infield in, which resulted in what should have been a catchable pop fly becoming a single that allowed Red Sox to tie the game. And he was saved from further damage when Zach Short caught a screaming line drive that became the inning-ending DP the team coulda, shoulda had 20 minutes earlier.

Williams looks uncomfortable in pressure situations -- not what you want from your closer. Maybe there will be takers at the trade deadline.

But if you can stomach it, here is some management-speak on why Williams' closer job is not in jeopardy:

Lindor Breaks Out at Bat

Okay, so it does fall under the heading of, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?", but Francisco Lindor, on balance, showed signs of finally breaking out of his season-long slump. That's important because if the Mets have any chance of turning around the season to make it somewhat respectable, Lindor will have to start carrying some of the offensive load. A notoriously slow starter, Lindor hit the IL with his strained calf, and since his return, it's been like the beginning of the season all over again. Coming into today's game, Lindor was hitting only .133 on the homestand. Overall, only 11 RBI in 150 AB. But today, he had an RBI double in the first and a bases empty homer in the sixth to produce the only Met runs.

Luke Skywalks Again

Luke Weaver pitched another scoreless inning, and if we were managing, we would have sent him out to finish game in the ninth. It's the 25th consecutive game in which Weaver hasn't allowed an earned run, moving him up to tie A.J. Minter for second on the Mets' all-time list. (Minter did it over the course the three seasons, with injuries intervening). The team's record is 33, held by Mark Guthrie, who did it in 2002.