Mets stumble out of the gate and get rolled for third straight loss in San Francisco

Giants 7 Mets 2 (Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA)

Mets record: 3-4

Mets streak: Lost 3

WP - Robbie Ray (1-1)

LP - David Peterson (0-1)

SV - Blade Tidwell (1)

Seat on the Korner: Luis Arraez

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

Take Tony Gwynn's contact skills and combine them with Chipper Jones' propensity for killing the Mets, and you have Luis Arraez. Arraez could be wearing the uniform of the Salvation Army and reach base three times against the Mets. It doesn't matter what he's wearing. He wears out the Mets and did so again tonight with two hits, two runs and an RBI in the Giants' 7-2 win over the Mets.

Need to Know

• David Peterson went 4 and 1/3 innings and gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits and two walks while striking out five. His ERA for the short season is now 4.66.

• Bo Bichette's RBI double in the first was Bichette's first extra base hit in a Mets uniform.

• Luis Arraez's RBI triple in the first was Arraez's first career triple against the Mets. Arraez came into the game with a .417 lifetime average against the Mets.

• Mark Vientos' home run in the second was his first of the year.

• Daniel Susac's second inning single was his first major league hit. Susac would wind up with three hits for the game and reached base 4 times.

• Juan Soto's single in the 8th extended his hitting streak to 7 games.

• Former Met Blade Tidwell pitched the final three innings for the save, giving up two hits and striking out two in his Giants debut.

Turning Points

This game had less a turning "point" and more of an 18-wheeler trying to make a U-turn on 2nd avenue to avoid getting on the 59th St. bridge at the last minute. The turn was slow inevitable, and it lasted three full innings.

So let's just make the turning point the entire bottom of the first which featured the triple by Arraez, an RBI double by Matt Chapman, and an unconscionable error by Peterson to give the Giants three runs and set them on their way.

Now if you like your turning points to be single solitary points, consider Bo Bichette's blast to center in the top of the 3rd which was on its way to giving the Mets a 4-3 lead ...

Harrison Bader, however decided that he was bored with killing the Mets with his bat (.528 avg in 36 at-bats with 2 HR's against the Mets last season) and decided he was going to kill them with his glove ... making the jumping catch to save a homer (or at the very least a double) by Bichette which may have sent the Mets on a better path.

Three Keys

A Streak of Slop

The Mets didn't look good mentally on Wednesday against the Cardinals, and they didn't look good physically tonight against San Francisco. Peterson's error, as seen above, was a gut punch. Then there was this from Marcus Semien:

It wasn't so much that Semien couldn't catch that pop up. It was a tough chance. But it was more of a case that it was Luis Robert Jr's ball, and he let Semien take it. It's just not crisp baseball, and it's the antithesis of what David Stearns was trying to build.

On The Other Hand ...

Let's give some credit to Mark Vientos, who isn't the first person you'd think of when you think "run prevention". But he made a couple of nice plays at first base tonight. The first, of course, wound up ending in a Peterson error, But the second one robbed Chapman of a hit:

Stretching Out

A conversation during the early innings of the game was how Carlos Mendoza wanted to give Sean Manaea a chance to stretch out in an effort to get him ready for a return to the starting rotation. Unfortunately for the Mets it was a rough start by Peterson that got Manaea that chance tonight, though it was probably looked upon as a good sign for the long term by Manaea.

Manaea got 74 pitches, which was a little over the range Mendoza wanted to see from him. He threw 44 strikes and the Rafael Devers home run above was the only run he gave up. But Manaea did give up 4 hits and two walks in the 3 and 2/3's innings he pitched, but he did finish strong with a perfect 8th inning. So it was a mixed bag for Manaea, but the fact that he is getting stretched out gives Mendoza options for the near future if he needs them.