Mets blow leads, lose in the 9th, and may never win again

Brewers 7 Mets 6 (American Family Field, Milwaukee, WI)

Mets record: 63-55

Mets streak: Lost 7

WP - Nick Mears (3-3)

LP - Edwin Diaz (5-2)

Seat on the Korner:

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.

You could probably label every Brewers hitter as a "Met Killer" at this point, and in this game. But we'll give it to Isaac Collins who went 3-for-5 and produced the final blow: a solo HR off Edwin Diaz to complete the collapse and send the Mets to their 7th straight loss.

Need to Know

• With the loss and the Phillies completing their sweep in Arlington, the Mets are now 5.5 games back in the National League East. And with the Reds win, the Mets drop to 1.5 games ahead in the final wild card spot.

• The Mets have lost 11 of their last 12, and are now 18-31 in their last 49 games.

• The Mets are now 4-21 in their last 25 regular season games in Milwaukee.

• The Mets held leads of 5-0 and 6-3 before the Brewers came all the way back to win in the 9th.

• Along with Collins, William Contreras also had three hits which included two dingers. Joey Ortiz drove in three runs on two hits.

• Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and Ronny Mauricio all had multiple hits for the Mets, while Cedric Mullins hit his first home run as a Met with a solo HR in the top of the 4th.

• Sean Manaea went four innings and gave up four runs on six hits and two walks while striking out five.

Turning Point

In an all too familiar refrain, the Mets' starter was cruising, until one inning did him in. This time, it was Sean Manaea who couldn't get out of the 5th inning.

Manaea gave up four runs in the 4th to bring the Brewers right back into the game, forcing the setup men to pitch on back to back nights. But it didn't matter as the rested pitcher gave up the winning run anyway.

Three Keys

Desperation

Carlos Mendoza's usage of Sean Manaea can only be chalked up to desperation. Manaea got hit hard in the 4th, but with Mendoza looking for any starting pitcher to give them length outside of David Peterson, Manaea was sent back for the 5th in hopes that he would find himself.

Instead, he gave up a leadoff single to Collins and was pulled for Reed Garrett, who pitched yesterday as the opener. Garrett couldn't stop the bleeding, giving up Contreras' second home run of the game.

Hell's Meatballs

For the second day in a row, Ryan Helsley had a fastball turned around on him. This time, by the nine hitter.

Reminder that going into Saturday's game, hitters were hitting .403 against Helsley's fastball. And that fastball he threw to Ortiz was way too fat. A foot higher and out of the zone, and maybe he gets him.

The Pen Was Tired, But The Rested Guy Lost It

Edwin Diaz hadn't pitched since Monday, so no real explanation there except that he threw a bad slider to Collins and he knew it.

We should have known this was coming when his first pitch in the 8th inning was thrown to Whitefish Bay.

It really doesn't matter when it's all said and done. The Mets will probably win again this season despite my title. But right now, they are losing the way losing teams lose. When they hit, the can't pitch. When they pitch, they can't hit. When they hit and they pitch, the make errors, or vapor lock on the bases, or perform Satanic rituals on Shamrock Shakes to try to conjure up the ghost of 2024.

2024 ain't walkin' through that door, so the Mets of 2025 had better figure it out, and soon.