Fools on The Hill, Mets Pen Blows Leads 8 Days A Week in 11-9 Loss

Mariners 11 Mets 9 (Citi Field, Queens, NY)

Mets record: 64-58

Mets streak: Lost 3

Last 10: 1-9

WP -Caleb Ferguson (3-2)

LP -Ryan Helsley (3-4)

SV-Andres Munoz (29)

Seat on the Korner: Cal Raleigh

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.

If Ralph Kiner were still hosting his classic postgame show on WOR Channel 9, there’s little doubt who would have earned the invitation to “A Seat on the Korner” tonight. While the Mariners had contributions up and down the lineup with five players posting multi-hit games and seven driving in runs, Cal Raleigh’s performance stood tall. The home run-hitting catcher blasted his 46th of the season, added two doubles, and piled up eight total bases in the process. He drove in two runs and crossed the plate three times himself, putting his stamp on Seattle’s offensive surge. With a night like this, Ralph surely would’ve handed him the microphone, maybe even slipping in his trademark wit by asking how Raleigh came to be known as “The Big Dumper.”

Need to Know

• The Mets hosted The Beatles Night at Citi Field on Friday, celebrating the 60th anniversary of The Beatles’ legendary August 15, 1965 performance at Shea Stadium.

• The first 15,000 fans in attendance received an exclusive Shea Stadium replica.

• Pre-game entertainment began at 6:15 p.m. with a live performance by “1964 The Tribute” in front of the Shea Bridge.

• Members of the gameday staff who worked at the 1965 concert threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

• The Mets headshots on the scoreboard were Beatles inspired.

• The Mariners, one of the hottest teams in baseball, bring a top-tier rotation, a bullpen that closes the door, and a lineup that has recently begun clicking. Last season, the Mets were outscored 22-1 in three games at T-Mobile Park. Overall, the Mets are 8-16 all-time against Seattle, including 5-7 at Citi Field.

• Sean Manaea made his 19th career appearance against Seattle, tied with Houston for his most against any opponent. He’s 8-8 with a 4.04. ERA (48 ER/107.0 IP) and 94 strikeouts in those games. Manaea had an excellent July (2.08 ERA over four starts) but has allowed thirteen runs in 14.2 August innings.

• Here are the Mariners career numbers coming into the game vs Manaea

  
  

  

• Luis Castillo took a no descion in the game tonight and is now 9-8 on the season with a 3.47 ERA, 3.36 FIP, and 1.22 WHIP; tonight he lasted 4 innings, giving up 9 hits, 6 earned runs, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, and 3 home runs, marking 6 home runs allowed over his last 3 starts, highlighting an alarming trend of giving up the long ball despite strong strikeout numbers.

• Here are the Mets career numbers coming into the game vs Castillo

  
  

  

  
  

• Francisco Lindor has started to heat up at the plate, going 8-for-12 with a double, three homers, two walks, and six runs scored in his last three starts. He has now scored in five straight games and is one stolen base shy of his fifth 20/20 season.

• Juan Soto has reached base safely in all 13 games this month, batting .285 (14-for-49) with five homers, eight RBI, four stolen bases. He’s also one stolen base shy of his first 20-steal season. With one more stolen base each, Soto and Lindor would become just the fourth pair of Mets teammates to record 20+ HR and 20+ SB in the same season.

• With Ronny Mauricio's stolen base tonight the Mets have now stolen 36 consecutive bases, tied for the fifth-longest single-season streak in MLB history. They lead the majors with a 90.5% stolen base success rate and have gone 48 straight games without being caught stealing, tied for the sixth-longest such streak in MLB history.

• Mets have lost 14 of 16 and have been outscored 103-78 during that stretch.

• This is just the second time in the last 17 years that the Mets have blown a lead in seven consecutive games, per Elias. They blew a lead in eight straight games in 2023.

• Following the game, there was a Beatles-themed fireworks show lighting up the Citi Field sky.

Turning Point

For the third consecutive time, Ryan Helsley entered the game with the lead and blew the save. Helsley came on to start the seventh with a 6-5 lead .The Mariners’ game-changing rally began with Cal Raleigh ripping a double to left off Helsley. Julio Rodríguez followed with a strikeout for the first out, but Eugenio Suárez then drilled a game-tying RBI double to left, scoring Raleigh and knotting the game at 6-6. That hit ended Helsley’s night, with Brooks Raley coming in from the bullpen.

Dominic Canzone greeted Raley with a go-ahead RBI single to center, plating Suárez and giving Seattle a 7-6 lead. Mitch Garver drew a walk, and Donovan Solano smashed an RBI double to left to make it 8-6, with Garver moving to third. After J.P. Crawford struck out for the second out, Cole Young delivered the dagger — a two-run double to right, stretching the Mariners’ lead to 10-6. That blow prompted another pitching change, with Ryne Stanek taking over for Raley.

Randy Arozarena grounded out to second to end the inning, but the damage was done. In the span of nine batters, Seattle went from trailing 6-5 to holding a commanding 10-6 lead, seizing control and riding the momentum to the win.

Three Keys

Hel NO

Since arriving at the trade deadline in a move meant to solidify the Mets’ bullpen, Ryan Helsley has been anything but the late-inning answer New York envisioned. In just seven appearances with the club, he has now blown four consecutive leads — a staggering stretch that has turned potential wins into crushing defeats. The unraveling began on August 9 in Milwaukee, when he was tagged for two runs in just a third of an inning. The very next day, again in Milwaukee, he coughed up another lead, allowing a run on two hits and a walk in two-thirds of an inning. Four days later against Atlanta, Helsley again faltered, giving up two runs in the eighth to squander another advantage. And tonight, entrusted with a 6-5 lead to start the inning, he served up a game-tying double to Eugenio Suárez before being yanked from the game — the spark that ignited Seattle’s decisive four-run rally. For a pitcher acquired to lock games down, Helsley’s Mets tenure so far has been defined by late-inning meltdowns, mounting frustration, and the sobering reality that the bullpen still doesn’t have the stopper it desperately needs. And while his entrance music is AC/DC’s Hells Bells, lately it’s felt less like a warning to opponents and more like a funeral march for Mets leads.

Bottom Third Produces in Losing Effort

In the losing effort, it was the bottom third of the lineup that provided much of the offensive spark for the Mets. Cedric Mullins went 1-for-4 with a run scored, setting the table in the eighth spot. Francisco Alvarez continued his strong uptick since being recalled, delivering a huge night at the plate by going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, four RBIs, and his seventh home run of the season. Ronny Mauricio also chipped in with a solid performance, collecting two hits in four at-bats and scoring a run. Despite their production, the Mets couldn’t overcome their pitching struggles, leaving the contributions from the bottom of the order as a bright spot in an otherwise frustrating loss.

Thank You Brew Crew

Sometimes help comes from unexpected places. Tonight the Mets got a huge assist from the red-hot Brewers, who looked buried in Cincinnati when they trailed 8–1. But Milwaukee chipped away before erupting for nine unanswered runs, storming all the way back to beat the Reds 10–8. The win wasn’t just improbable — it was the Brewers’ 13th straight victory, adding another layer of improbability to an already wild night. More importantly for New York, it handed Cincinnati a damaging loss in the Wild Card chase and gave the Mets another day still in a playoff spot despite their awful play of late.