Mets crash and burn in Miami while the Reds become Destiny's Child

Marlins 6 Mets 2 (Loan Depot Park, Miami, FL)

Mets record: 82-78

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP - Sandy Alcantara (11-12)

LP - Brandon Sproat (0-2)

SV - Tyler Phillips (4)

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.

Sandy Alcantara was shaky in the beginning, but pitched his way out of trouble and went 7 innings, giving up two runs (both in the first) on six hits and two walks while striking out three. At one point, Alcantara retired 12 straight hitters with 11 coming on ground balls to stymie the Mets and send them back into a tie for the third wild card.

Need to Know

• The loss combined with the Reds win puts the two teams tied for WC3 with the Reds holding the tiebreaker.

• Francisco Lindor's opening home run on the second pitch was his 11th leadoff home run of the season and 5th in the last nine games.

• Juan Soto's two steals of second gave him 38 steals in 42 attempts this season. They came off of Sandy Alcantara, who has now gien up 35 steals in 36 attempts.

• Pete Alonso's RBI double in the first inning was his 40th of the season, and it gave him his 17th RBI against the Marlins this season. He entered the game batting .405 against Miami this season.

• Brett Baty left the game in the second inning with an apparent oblique injury, replaced by Ronny Mauricio.

• Heriberto Hernandez's two run triple gave him his fifth hit in 11 at-bats with 5 RBI against the Mets this season.

• Sandy Alcantara went at least six innings in his 8th straight start, going seven plus while giving up just the two runs in the first inning.

Turning Point

Brandon Sproat was cruising through four innings. His pitches were moving, and he was economical with his pitch count. But in the fifth, his location was a little off and the Marlins took advantage with three hits on three straight pitches to tie the game, culminating in this Heriberto Hernandez two run triple.

Sproat would be pulled after 4 and 2/3's innings, giving up four runs on five hits and a walk while striking out two. He threw 39 strikes in 61 pitches.

Three Keys

More Slop Than An Army Mess Hall

When Brett Baty was pulled with the injury, Carlos Mendoza made the interesting move of replacing him with Rony Mauricio instead of Mark Vientos. You could see the thinking here, as Mauricio is a lefty, and is a better defender than Vientos.

But the other thing that came into play here is that Mauricio hasn't played since September 20th, and has played 14 innings of baseball this entire month. Vientos, meanwhile, has played four games (and 36 innings) since Mauricio's last game.

So it was no wonder that Mauricio's rust showed with two outs in the 5th when Agustin Ramirez tried to steal third and was a dead duck when Gregory Soto stepped off the rubber to nail him. Mauricio, however, failed to cover third.

Now I don't bring that up to torch Mendoza for bringing in Mauricio instead of Vientos. Fact of the matter is that sloppy rockhead baseball has been a signature of this team in September. Mauricio has to make that play, whether he's played 14 innings in a month or 14 games in two weeks. His head has to be in the game, just like the rest of the team.

The Other Side With The Other Soto

Gregory Soto shouldn't escape blame here, because after the Mauricio miscue, Soto had a chance to bail his teammate out and end the inning, but he came up small.

Xavier Edwards battled Soto, fouling off three pitches before singling in Ramirez to make it 4-2. Then, Soto gave up a pinch hit home run to Connor Norby to take whatever starch left in the Mets out.

Hot Starts And Quick Fades

After Francisco Lindor hit this pitch out for a homer, I really thought that the Mets were going to come up huge tonight.

And when Pete Alonso doubled home a second run, I really thought the rout would be on.

But another recurring theme with the Mets has been disappearing after a fast start. They did so historically against the Phillies earlier this month, and had a few more of these similar type performances thoughout the season. The Alonso double was the one hit that the Mets had with runners in scoring position tonight, as they wound up 1-for-10, leaving seven runners on base. It was capped off by Tyler Phillips coming out of the bullpen to strike out Mark Vientos with the bases loaded in the 8th with the Mets down 6-2.

So the Mets are now tied with the Reds with two games left, having to gain a game to make the playoffs. They'll have two chances to do it. But with the Reds (Andrew Abbott, Brady Singer) holding a clear advantage of the Mets (Clay Holmes, TBD) in terms of their rotation over the next two days, the task becomes infinitely more difficult with tonight's loss as the Reds are the ones that now control their own destiny. And before you compare the teams that the Mets and Reds are playing, consider that on June 13th, the Mets had the best record in the National League by three games, and the Marlins were 26-41. Since then? The Marlins have gone 52-41 while the Mets have gone 37-56. The Marlins have been 15 games better than the Mets in 3 and 1/2 months.

FIFTEEN!!!

So let's not lean on "oh it's Miami, they stink." Because right now, the Mets are the ones emanating an odor that is less than pleasant.

It's safe to say that tomorrow is a must win game.