No Miracle Whip: Mayo’s Inside-the-Park Homer Too Much For Mets to Bear in 7-5 Loss

Orioles 7 Mets 5 (Citi Field, Flushing, N.Y,)

Mets record: 69-82

Mets streak: Lost 3

WP - Alex Hoppe (1-1)

LP - Jonathan Pintaro (2-2)

SV - Andrew Kittredge (10)

Seat on the Korner: Coby Mayo

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.

It’s not every night that Ralph Kiner gets a chance to talk about an 11th-inning, game-winning inside-the-park home run, so tonight’s virtual seat belongs to Coby Mayo. Mayo went 2-for-5 with three RBIs, saving his biggest swing for the biggest moment. His 24th home run of the season turned into a mad dash around the bases and sent the Orioles home with the victory. Somewhere, Ralph is probably smiling—and wondering if Mayo had any idea how much fun he was about to give a former Mets broadcaster something to talk about. Plus Mike's Amazing Real Mayonnaise could be one of the Sponsors so it's a perfect fit.

Need to Know

• The Mets continue their final homestand of the season, a seven-game stand

  (0-2) against the Orioles (0-2) and Phillies (four games)

• The Mets are in a stretch of six straight (1-4) and nine of 13 games against the American League (3-4).New York is 21-23 against the AL this season.

• The Mets have defeated the Orioles in five of their last eight games at Citi Field.

• A.J. Ewing hit his 10th homer of the season yesterday, to become the 11th Met to reach double-digit home runs this season...This sets a franchise record for most players in a single season to reach the double-digit home run plateau...He joined Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Carson Benge, Bo Bichette, Francisco Lindor, Luis Robert Jr., Marcus Semien, Juan Soto, Tyrone Taylor and Mark Vientos with double digit homers...The Mets are the only team to feature 11 players with 10+ homers on the same team...The previous franchise record was 10 players, with 10+ homers, doing so in 2017.

• A.J, Ewing and Carson Benge became the sixth pair of Mets rookie teammates to record 10+ home runs in a season joining Ron Hunt and Tim Harkness in 1963, Jeromy Burnitz and Ryan Thompson in 1993, Ty Wigginton and Jason Phillips in 2003, Eric Valent and David Wright in 2004 and Víctor Díaz in 2005.

• Today is Roberto Clemente Day, an annual celebration of the Hall Famer and namesake of baseball’s humanitarian award, given each year to the player who most embodied Clemente’s spirit and legacy...Francisco Lindor is the Mets nominee this year...In partnership with New Balance, Francisco launched Lindor's Leaders, a year-long leadership development program for students in Bayside High School's Sports Medicine Program...Lindor partnered with Dairy Queen and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals in support of Miracle Treat Day, helping raise critical funds for local children's hospitals...To honor Clemente, Lindor, along with Juan Soto, Marcus Semien , Bo Bichette and bullpen coach José Rosado wore the no. 21 today.

• The Mets are 22-16 since the trade deadline.The Mets are 35-35 since Andy Green replaced Carlos Mendoza.

• Carson Benge has 150 hits, which is five shy of the most by a Mets rookie in a single season set by Pete Alonso (155)

• A.J. Ewing had his first career bunt hit.

• Sean Manea faced the Orioles for the fourth time in his career. After tonighs outing Manaea has allowed 15 runs over 17.2 innings In nine appearances (6 starts) against American League opponents this season, Manaea is 2-2 with

  3.77 ERA (20 ER/47.2 IP).

• In 47 career games (42 starts) in September, Manaea is 18-11 with a 3.58 ERA (99 ER/248.2 IP) and 222 strikeouts.His 18 career wins in September are his best mark for any calendar month in his career.

•  Nate Lavender, who continued his outstanding rookie season by entering with one out in the seventh, protecting a one-run lead. Lavender proceeded to record five outs, striking out four of them, while throwing 15 strikes among his 23 pitches.

Turning Point

Pete Alonso was determined not to have a Re-Pete of last night’s 0-for-3 performance. Already hitless in his first three at-bats, Alonso came to the plate with one out in the top of the ninth and, as Mets fans have seen so many times before, turned a bad night into a memorable one with one swing. Alonso jumped on Kodai Senga’s third pitch and deposited a towering 414 feet into left-center field for his 300th home run of his career, tying the game at 3-3, keeping the Orioles in the game, and in the playoff hunt. It was Senga's first blown save of the season.

Three Keys

That's A Pozo No No..

The Orioles were trailing 3-2 in the top of the fifth when Yohel Pozo led off with a single to left. Sean Manaea then struck out Leody Taveras looking, and Colton Cowser followed with a line drive that Jared Young snagged at first. Pozo, was caught scrambling back to the bag, but Young applied the swipe tag for an unassisted double play. Two outs, nobody on, and a golden opportunity erased. As Bozo the Clown supposedly once said, “That’s a Bozo no-no!”

Bo Bashes Baz

Bo Bichette led off the bottom of the fifth by turning Shane Baz’s second pitch into a 105.1-mph rocket up the middle. Unfortunately for Baz, the ball found his non-throwing elbow before ricocheting into the outfield for a single. Baz threw one warmup pitch afterward but was forced to leave the game.

It marked the second time in a week that Bo has sent a 100-plus-mph missile into a pitcher, following his 100.3-mph liner that struck Yankees Cy Young candidate Cam Schlittler for the final out of the sixth inning Sunday. Schlittler never returned for the seventh. Bo knows baseball. Apparently, he also knows how to find the pitcher.

Put an X on This One

There was a definite orange-and-blue connection to the Orioles’ victory tonight, as four former Mets played major roles in the game. Pete Alonso provided the biggest moment, launching his 300th career home run to tie the game in the ninth and send Mets fans into a familiar mix of disbelief and admiration. Then three former Mets pitchers—Anthony Nunez, Rico Garcia and Josh Walker—did their part for the Birds, combining for two innings of shutout relief to keep the game tied and give Baltimore’s offense a chance to finish the job. Four former Mets, one very familiar script: they all played a part in making tonight a long night in Flushing.