Mets Rally Falls Short Once Again as Snakes Defeat Mets 4-2

Diamondbacks 4 Mets 2 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 21-11

Mets Streak: L2

Mets Last 10: 6-4

WP: Zac Gallen (2-4)

LP: Kodai Senga (3-2)

SV: Shelby Miller (1)

Seat On The Korner: Zac Gallen

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 Zac Gallen, the other half of Arizona’s fearsome one-two pitching punch.

A night after Corbin Burnes silenced the Mets’ bats, surrendering only a solo shot to Mark Vientos, Gallen followed suit with his own gem. This time, the lone blemish for Gallen came off the bat of Juan Soto, who launched his first home run at Citi Field — a solo blast that briefly gave fans a flicker of hope.

Gallen was otherwise masterful, holding the Mets to just two hits over six strong innings, striking out eight, and exiting with a 2-1 lead. Clinical, composed, and in complete control — just the way Ralph would’ve liked it.

Need To Know:

• The Mets won their first four series victories at home this year.However, their impressive run at Citi Field came to an end with today’s loss, which gave the Diamondbacks the series win and officially ended the streak. It marks the Mets’ first series loss at home since August 13–15 of last season against the Athletics. The defeat also snaps the team’s streak of 10 consecutive home series victories, which had stood as the longest such streak in franchise history. (per Elias).

• With the win, the Diamonbacks secured their first series win at Citi Field since taking the 4-game series from Aug. 21-24, 2017 (3-1)...the last

  3-game series came the previous season when they earned a 3-0 sweep from Aug. 9-11, 2016.

• The Diamondbacks have now won 6 of their last 8 day games (6–2 since April 9), including their last 3 (April 20 @ Cubs, April 27 vs. Braves, and May 1 @ Mets) Their .750 winning percentage in that span is now tied for second-highest in the Majors with the Yankees (.750, 6–2) and Royals (.750, 6–2), trailing only the Mariners (1.000, 8–0).

• The Mets starting staff has not allowed a home run in 16 home games this season. It marks the longest streak to start a seasonin franchise history.The previous streak was eight games, done twice before- March 31 - April 15, 1998 and March 31 - April 19, 2003...Dating back to last season, the Mets starting staff has not allowed a home run at Citi Field in 17 straight games.

• Pete Alonso has reached base safely in 13 straight

  games.Since April 18, Alonso is batting .340 (15-44) with 10 runs, three doubles, one triple, two home runs, seven RBI, 12 walks.

• Despite an upturn in production and more competitive at-bats over the last 16 games, Mark Vientos is now batting .279 (17-for-61) with 12 runs, three doubles, one triple, four home runs, 14 RBI, and five walks during that stretch. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts today, and for the second consecutive game, he struck out with the go-ahead run on second base, missing key opportunities in tight spots.

• The Met starting staff has allowed four or fewer runs in each of their first 32 games to begin the season...It’s the longest streak by a National League team to begin a season in the modern era (since 1901)..(Courtesy of STATS)

• Senga now has three career starts against the Diamondbacks, going 2–1 with a 1.00 ERA (2 ER/18.0 IP). He has recorded 28 strikeouts while allowing just four walks over that span.

• In 20 career games at Citi Field, Senga has gone 9–4 with a 2.29 ERA (28 ER/113.0 IP), which still ranks as the fifth-best ERA in ballpark history (min. 90.0 IP)… He has now allowed just nine home runs to 459 batters faced, maintaining a 0.72 HR/9.0 IP ratio at home… His 11.60 K/9.0 IP remains the second-highest among pitchers at Citi Field, behind only Edwin Díaz’s 15.29 K/9.0 IP mark (min. 400 batters faced).

Turning Point:

After Juan Soto’s second home run of the day — a towering solo shot — trimmed the Mets’ deficit to 3–2 in the bottom of the eighth, the momentum seemed to swing toward Flushing. Pete Alonso worked a walk, and Jesse Winker followed with a sharp double down the left-field line, putting runners on second and third with just one out.

The table was set. A sacrifice fly would tie the game. A single past the drawn-in infield could give the Mets their first lead of the night.

But Diamondbacks reliever Kevin Ginkel had other plans. With the Citi Field crowd on its feet, Ginkel dug in and delivered under pressure, striking out both Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo in succession to snuff out the rally and preserve Arizona’s narrow lead.

Three Keys:

Soto Bombs.........

Juan Soto, after showing signs of being close Wednesday night when he hit more fly balls than grounders, finally broke out, with both his first and second home runs at Citi Field as a Met.

Afterward, Soto disputed a contention that finally getting off the schneid at Citi Field would take presure off of him:

........But So Does the Bullpen

For the second consecutive day, a bullpen collapse contributed to the defeat. Only this time, it was a combination of reliable firemen who might be getting a little overworked and Syracuse Shuttle transients conributing to the loss. Max Kranick needed to try to work his usual magic to rescue Genesis Cabrera, Thursday's bullpen lefty du jour, who, as they say, pitched briefly and ineffectively in the fifth. Kranick put out the fire, but tired in his third inning of work, giving up a home ron to Geraldo Perdomo. Reed Garrett, also due for a setback, allowed a Tim Tawa home run in the ninth. Ty Adcock mopped up; in his third of an inning, he gave up a walk and a hit but nit a run.

Senga Struggles

Kodai Senga, pitching on five days rest, struggled through only four innings, pitching in and out of trouble. While he gave up only one run, he walked three and gave up five hits. His 87-pitch outing forced manager Carlos Mendoza to tap his bullpen earlier than expected, producing what might be consider not surprising results (see above). Was Senga the latest victim of the METVID virus? Perhaps, but he made no excuses.