Mets Rally Falls Short as Snakes Slither to a 4-3 Win

Diamondbacks 4 Mets 3 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 21-10

Mets Streak: L1

Mets Last 10: 7-3

WP: Corbin Burns (1-1)

LP: Ryne Stanek (0-3)

SV: Ryan Thompson (1)

Seat On The Korner: Corbin Burns

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.

Tonight’s Seat on the Korner — our virtual tip of the cap in the grand tradition of Ralph Kiner’s postgame chats on Channel 9 — goes to Diamondbacks pitcher Corbin Burns, Arizona's key offseason free agent signing. Burns made his sixth career start against the Mets, and proved again how much he loves pitching in Flushing: in his previous two starts here, he was 1-0 with a 2.31 ERA and 16 strikeouts; overall, his ERA against the Mets was 4.71 entering the game. Burns tossed six innings of four-hit ball, yielding only a third-inning homer to Mark Vientos. Burns left the game trailing, 1-0, and became the pitcher on the long side when the D-backs plated two in the top of the seventh. But then he had to watch as his team lengthened their lead in the top of the ninth but nearly squandered it in the bottom. A rollercoaster ride for an all-star hurler earning his first win in a Diamondbacks uniform.

Need To Know:

• Huascar Brazoban made his second career start and pitched two scoreless innings. In his first, against Minnesota on April 18, he walked one and struck out one in a scoreless inning. The Mets eventually lost that game, also 4-3.

• The Mets finished April 19-8 . The team's 19 April wins are the

  most in the month in team history, surpassing the 2006 and 2002 teams which each had 16. But they failed to set the National League record for April success, leaving them tied with the 2024 Phillies, 2023 Pirates, 2008 Diamondbacks, 1997 Braves, and 2014 Brewers.

• The Mets are now 13-2 at home.

• The Mets are in a stretch of 13 straight games (3-3) and 26 games in 27 days (13-6).

• The Mets' starting staff has not allowed a home run in 15 home games this season. That's the longest streak to start a season in franchise history...The previous streak was eight games, done twice before - March 31 - April 15,

  1998 and March 31 - April 19, 2003.

• The Mets need a win in Thursday's matinee to earn their fifth home series win .The Mets have not lost a series at home since August 13-15 against the Athletics last year. The Mets have won the last 10 series at Citi Field...The team’s streak of 10 consecutive series victories at home is the longest in team history.(Courtesy of Elias)

• Brandon Waddell spent the first two innings in the bullpen as Brazoban was effective as the opener. With a degree in economics from the University of Virginia, did he spend his time in the pen explaining the theory behind tariffs to the 7 Line Army?

• The Mets' other Brandon, Nimmo, was back in the dugout after being sent home sick Tuesday night. Nimmo, coming off his nine RBI game Monday, pinch hit for Luisangel Acuna in the eighth and grounded out to short. Sent out to play left field in the ninth, Nimmo looked shaky on a fly ball that resulted in a Lourdes Gurriel double.

• Before the game, the Mets placed reliever Danny Young on the IL, retroactive to April 27, with a left elbow sprain. They recalled righthander Chris Devenski from Syracuse. To make room for Devenski on the 40-man roster, they transferred rehabbing Brooks Raley, just signed and placed on the 15-day IL, to the 60-day version. A car service picked up Devenski in Syracuse; he made it to Citi Field around game time at 7 p.m., entered the game in the eighth inning and, assuming the driver stayed in the Citi Field parking lot, was probably on his way back north overnight. And if so, was Kevin Herget, who was farmed out after giving up three hits and two runs in two innings Tuesday night, his traveling companion?

• Down on the farm: Jacob Riemer, the Mets' number 20 prospect, homered three times at Maimonides Park in the Brooklyn Cyclones' 15-1 romp against Wilmington Wednesday afternoon. It was the first three-home game by a Cyclone since the club became the Mets' High-A affiliate in 2021. The last Cyclone to homer three times --when the club was a short-season Mets farm team -- was 20 years ago, in 2005.

• Diamondbacks shortstop and leadoff batter Geraldo Perdomo reached base 45 times in April, third in the National League -- behind Pete Alonso (58) and Francisco Lindor (50).

• Kodai Senga takes the mound in Thursday's matinee against Zac Gallen

• Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo got his 600th career managerial win, making him the 12th active skipper to reach the feat.

  
  

Turning Point

The Diamondbacks took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Justin Martinez came in to close, and promptly gave up a home run to Tyrone Taylor. Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto both walked, and Ryan Thompson replaced Martinez. Thompson hit Pete Alonso, but then struck out Mark Vientos, who seemed unable to react to Thompson's sidearmish delivery. What happened next was crucial: Jesse Winker, a lefthanded batter who would better see the ball come out of Thompson's hand, hit a ball that Winker thought -- and replays seemed to confirm-- he had fouled off his right foot. But home plate umpire Scott Barry ruled it a fair ball and Winker was retired on a grounder. Winker and manager Carlos Mendoza protested to the umpiring crew, which conferred but did not look at a replay (Crew chief CB Bucknor seemed still be to smarting from a bad out call he made earlier in the game on a Tyrone Taylor steal that was overturned by replay). While a run did score, it seemed all downhill from there. Jeff McNeil was intentionally walked and Francisco Alvarez, another righthanded batter, grounded out to third to end the game.

Three Keys:

An Economical Mets Debut

Left hander Brandon Waddell, making hit Mets debut, marked a lot of firsts. He was the first Met player to wear uniform number 82. He became the first player in 110 years to need five teams to play his first 12 big league games. But most important, he became the first reliever to toss 4 1/3 scoreless innings in his Mets debut. Waddell came to the Mets by way of Taiwan and Korea, and proved that he deserves to stay in the bigs, especially with the Mets currently having no other lefties in the bullpen.

Stinky Stanek

Ryne Stanek, who has had better weeks, continued to work his way out of Mets manager Carlos Mendoza's circle of trust. Brought into the game with one out in the seventh and the Mets leading, 1-0, Stanek gave up a bleeder to Lourdes Gurriel, a broken bat double to Jorge Barrosa and a Geraldo Perdomo single that dropped in front of left fielder Jeff McNeil, scoring Gurriel and Barrosa and giving Arizona the lead. Stanek only got out of the inning thanks to Tyrone Taylor's second web gem catch of the day.

Diaz Stays in the Bullpen

It wouldn't be out of line to at least question manager Carlos Mendoza's strategy in pressing his luck by sending Chris Devenski out for the ninth inning in a 2-1 game. Devenski had pitched an acceptable eighth, but he really was an unknown and he had spent five hours in a car being driven down from Syracuse. Diaz was well rested, and he did end up warming up to pitch the 10th if the Mets tied the game. The conventional wisdom is you don't bring your closer in when you are trailing, and it would have taken away his availability for Thursday's matinee, but still....it is not surprising that Devenski, whose last good major league year was 2017, was shaky from the start of the ninth and game up two additional runs.