Mets can't finish when they have a chance, and Guardians outlast them in 10

Guardians 7, Mets 6, 10 innings (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 63-50

Mets Streak: L2

Mets Last 10: 4-6

WP: Cade Smith (4-4)

LP: Ryan Helsley (3-2)

SV: Nic Enright (1)

Seat On The Korner: Gabriel Arias

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.

Gabriel Arias had the last word, both in the Guardians' five-run sixth inning and their two-run 10th that decided the game. Cleveland was putty in Sean Manaea's left hand through five innings, but it all came crumbling down for the Mets starter in the sixth. After the Guardians pushed across the first two runs of the game, Arias came to bat with two on and clubbed a drive to center, 440 feet from home plate, for a three run homer.

Then, after the Mets rallied to get even, Cleveland went back ahead when the ghost runner scored in the top of the 10th before Arias pushed across a big second run with a sacrifice fly to right that provided the Guardians with the winning margin — and earned Arias a visit with Ralph.

Need To Know:

• Combined with Philadelphia's 13-3 drubbing of the Orioles, the loss dropped the Mets 1.5 games behind the first-place Phillies.

• Mets pitchers have given up 11 three-run homers this season, but four of them have come in the last six games — and the Mets have lost five of those six.

• Cleveland has won 17 of its last 24 games to move to two games over .500 and 2.5 games out of an American League Wild Card spot.

• Mark Vientos started his second game of the season at first base, with Pete Alonso serving as the DH. In the first inning, Vientos overran a foul pop by Angel Martinez near the Mets dugout to keep the at-bat going. Martinez popped the very next pitch to virtually the exact same spot, but this time catcher Francisco Alvarez snagged it for the out.

• The Mets scored a pair in the eighth inning to tie the game. Guardians relief pitcher Hunter Gaddis was greeted by consecutive singles by Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil to draw the Mets within a run. (Alonso's RBI gave him 90 for the season.) Mark Vientos tied it with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Cedric Mullins was robbed of an RBI hit by second baseman Brayan Rocchio on a smash to his left and, after Gaddis was replaced by Cade Smith, Brett Baty grounded out to leave the go-ahead run at third.

• Edwin Diaz pitched an impressive ninth for the Mets. After giving up a single to Brayan Rocchio and having him wind up on third with none out after a steal and throwing error by Francisco Alvarez, Diaz struck out Kyle Manzardo, got Steven Kwan to pop to short and struck out pinch-hitter Daniel Schneemann.

  
  

• Brett Baty's RBI single to center with two out got one run back for the Mets in the bottom of the 10th, but Luis Torrens' bid for a game-winning homer down the right-field line fell a few feet short of the wall to end it.

• The Mets send Clay Holmes (9-6, 3.45 ERA) against Cleveland's Logan Allen (7-9, 4.06 ERA) in tonight's 7:10 p.m. tilt.

Turning Point:

The Mets were set up to win it in the ninth. Francisco Alvarez cracked a single to center and Tyronne Taylor was sent in to run for him. After Brandon Nimmo struck out for the fourth time in the game, Francisco Lindor slashed a line drive toward the right-field corner. Taylor was flying toward third and turned the bag before the ball reached the cut-off man, but third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh held up a stop sign. Turns out Taylor would have scored as the relay was muffed. But the Mets still had their big bats coming up. Soto was walked intentionally to load the bases before Pete Alonso, who already had driven in four runs while going 4-for-4, struck out and Jeff McNeil lined out to short to send the game to extras.

Three Things:

Manaea's implosion

Sean Manaea was cruising. Through five innings, the big lefty had thrown just 57 pitches, limiting the Guardians to two hits and no walks. But, just like that, he lost it. Steven Kwan singled, Manaea hit Angel Martinez and, after Jose Ramirez was retired on a fly to right, Manaea wild pitched Martinez to second. David Fry and Carlos Santana smacked consecutive RBI singles. Then came the big blow — a three-run bomb by Gabriel Arias to put the Mets in a deep 5-0 hole.

Alonso capitalizes

Slade Cecconi was cruising. The Guardians right-hander had limited the Mets to three hits and no runs while striking out six through the first five innings when his team's defense fell apart both in front of him and behind him. First Francisco Lindor reached leading off when his swinging strike three was missed by Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges. Then Juan Soto's grounder was booted by Guardians second baseman Brayan Rocchio. Pete Alonso, already 2-for-2, crashed a three-run homer to left field — his 251st career dinger, putting him one behind Darryl Strawberry for the Mets' career record — to pull the Mets within a pair of runs.

Baty botch

Carlos Mendoza chose to intentionally walk Jose Ramirez to put runners on first and second to start the Cleveland 10th inning, and David Fry — attempting to bunt the runners over — bunted it hard toward Brett Baty at third. Baty had a chance to get the force at second, which would have kept the double play in order, but his throw went into right field, bringing in the go-ahead run and allowing Fry and Ramirez to move up to second and third. After Mets reliever Ryan Helsley got an out on a soft grounder to first, Gabriel Arias lifted a fly to deep right to plate the second Cleveland run of the inning, which provided the winning margin.