Mets Offense and Clay Holmes both disappear after 5 innings

Guardians 3, Mets 2 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 63-51

Mets Streak: L3

Mets Last 10: 3-7

WP: Matt Festa (3-2)

LP: Tyler Rogers (4-4)

SV: Cade Smith (4)

Seat On The Korner: Steven Kwan

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.

All Star Steven Kwan was Cleveland's first baserunner of the game when he led off the 4th with a base hit, and eventually scored the first run of the game. He then drove in the go ahead run in the 7th with a 2-out run-scoring "32-hopper" up the middle, off of Mets new "unhittable" submariner Tyler Rogers. Kwan is now hitting .295 with runners in scoring position.

This was Kwan's 13th multi-hit game in his last 38 games played.

Need To Know:

• The Mets fell to 38-20 at home, now the 2^nd best home mark in the majors (Toronto 38-19).

• The Mets broke their 14-game attendance streak, failing to surpass 41,000 fans for the first time on Monday.

  In Wednesday's series finale, David Peterson (7-4, 2.83) looking to play the stopper role, faces up against RHP Gavin Williams at 1:10 p.m. ET.

• Combined with Philadelphia's shutout of the Orioles, the loss dropped the Mets 2.5 games behind the first-place Phillies, the first time in 51 days that the Mets and Phillies have been separated by more than 2 games in the standings.

• Cleveland has come out of the All Star Break 12-6 to close within 2 games of the Yankees, who are in the 2nd of 3 American League Wild Card spots.

• Koby Allard has been putting together a strong season, including 3.1 scoreless innings against Colorado last week with 5 Ks, no BB and only 1 hit.

• The countdown remains at one for Pete Alonso to become the Mets' home run king -- and the man whose record he would tie was at the game to bear witness if it happened. Alonso did hit a sacrifice fly, but at least for one more day, Darryl Strawberry remains alone atop to Mets' leader board;

• 
  

Turning Point:

Although Kwan's single with 2 outs in the 7th broke the 2-2 tie, the Turning Point was back in the 2nd inning, when the Mets offense looked like it was going to roll on this gorgeous night. The Flushing Faithful's excitement built throughout the inning to a fever pitch, starting with Vientos' lead off double, and McNeil's crafty bunt that moved Vientos over to 3rd with one out. After a walk to Alvarez, Tyrone Taylor, installed in the starting lineup by Carlos Mendoza against the left-handed starter, struck a sharp base-hit to left, driving in Vientos. A walk to Alvarez and a throwing error by Cleveland first baseman CJ Kayfus loaded the bases with one out . CitiField was jumping with excitement and anticipation as "My Girl" blasted with Francisco Lindor coming to the plate.

Lindor has broken out the last 4 games, with 7 hits in his last 16 at-bats, including 2 doubles and a home run. On the first pitch from lefty Logan Allen, Lindor hit a ground ball sharply up the middle. Off the bat, it appeared to be headed into center field for a 2-run single and an early 4-0 Mets lead. However, the ball hit the mound, which appeared to slow it down just enough for second baseman Brayan Rocchio, who was playing as close to second base as is legally permitted these days. Rocchio backhanded it, and flipped to shortstop Gabriel Arias, like two trains passing, with Arias then stepping on second before nailing the speedy Lindor for a double play.

At this early stage in the game, with the Mets up 2-0 against an unimpressive Allen, it seemed like only a small disappointment and not a Turning Point of the game. But the Mets offense rolled over and played dead the rest of the night, with 4-batter innings in the 3rd (Alonso single), 4th (McNeil single), and 5th (Soto 4-pitch walk), and then 3-up and 3- down in each of the last 4 innings.

Three Things:

The Cleveland bullpen was perfect for 4 innings

While starter Logan Allen and his 4.09 ERA coming into the night was unimpressive as anticipated, the bullpen took over in the 6th and unplugged the Mets offense. Matt Festa retired the Mets in order in the 6th, the underrated Koby Allard retired the next 4, including Juan Soto leading off the 7th. He made Soto look silly, first with a very weak out-of-control swing for strike 2, and had him staring at a strike 3 that split the middle of the plate. Jakob Junis then came in to get Alonso and Nimmo on 4 pitches. Cade Smith then came in and won long battles against Vientos and McNeil before ending the game on a comebacker by Alvarez.

Clay Holmes pulled after only 75 pitches.

Clay Holmes' stuff looked strong all night. After retiring the first 9 batters of the game, Holmes surrendered 2 runs in the 4th to allow Cleveland to tie the game 2-2. But he then had a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th, and on a cool summer night, had only 75 pitches under his belt. Then the belt came off and he went to the showers. No one expected Holmes to go deep into this game - he hadn't even finished 6 innings since June 7th at Colorado - but to see a starter pulled in a 2-2 game with only 75 pitches, without even an attempt at starting the 6th, would be unheard of in any other season. But this is a converted reliever who, despite his large frame, has not demonstrated any stamina to go beyond 5 innings. In his last start, he pitched only 5 innings as well, but had 104 pitches. In his start before that on July 19th and another recent start on July 8th, Holmes appeared to be cruising through 5 but fell apart quickly in the 6th.

Mendoza, with a newly loaded bullpen since the trading deadline deals, was not going to wait to see what happened.

Bloop or Blast, They All Look the Same in the Box Score

Tyler Rogers got off to a good start in the seventh, retiring the first two batters he faced, But then he got...well, unlucky. CJ Kaufus hit weak grounder that found its way between Francisco Lindor and Mark Vientos. Brayan Rocchio plunked one that dropped weakly in front of a charging Brandon Nimmo in left, and then Steven Kwan hit a bleeder through the box that found its way into center field, driving in what proved to be the winning run. You can't really fault Rogers. Sometimes the baseball gods just aren't smiling at you. The average speed of the 3 sinkers Rogers threw on those singles was 83 mph.  The exit velo was even slower.  Bad luck for Rogers, and bad luck for the Mets.