No "Joy of Six" as six run sixth stops Met streak at ... six

Rays 7 Mets 5 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 45-25

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP - Garrett Cleavinger (1-2)

LP - Max Kranick (3-2)

SV - Pete Fairbanks (13)

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.

Do you realize that Edwin Uceta was a former Met? You'd be forgiven if you forgot about his one game in blue and orange in 2023. But we won't soon forget how Uceta looked in the 7th and 8th as he made the Rays' 6 run 6th stand up.

Uceta came in the game in the 7th, and struck out Starling Marte as the tying run on a running fastball that ended up by Marte's hip before walking Brett Baty and getting Ronny Mauricio to fly out to end the inning.

But it was the 8th where he really shined. After Francisco Alvarez reached on an error, Uceta blew away Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo before ending the inning on a white knuckle liner to right by Soto, which would have been out had he got any topspin on it. But that shouldn't take away from Uceta's performance with a high level of difficulty.

Need to Know

• With the win, the Rays are now 16-6 in their last 22 games.

• Starling Marte went 3-for-4 with 3 RBi for the Mets.

• Clay Holmes pitched well, but only threw 79 pitches in five innings, giving up a home run for his only earned run, three hits, three strikeouts and one walk.

• Paul Blackburn came in for the 6th with a 5-1 lead and was hit around, giving up four runs on four hits in 1/3 of an inning in that 6 run 6th. Max Kranick relived him and gave up a two run homer to Danny Jansen, which was the difference.

• The Rays gave up 5 runs, but thanks to three errors, none of the runs were earned.

Turning Point

The turning point was honestly when Clay Holmes was pulled after five good innings (more on that later), but having to pick one, we'll go with Jake Mangum's two run single which brought the Rays to within two as the Mets had just taken a 5-1 lead in the top of the inning.

Mangum, the former Met farmhand, made the rest of the inning stressful for Blackburn and Kranick and the Rays would take advantage with four more runs in the inning to take a 7-5 lead and not look back.

Three Keys

The Colorado Effect

The Colorado Rockies finally tagged the Mets with a loss ... but it had nothing to do with the Colorado Rockies.

Holmes looked good for five innings and 79 pitches, but Carlos Mendoza admitted that going into the game, he was only going to go with Holmes for 85 pitches max, so he went to Blackburn to start the 6th.

Spoiler Alert: It Didn't Work

I'm sure that Mendoza was thinking/hoping that Blackburn would come in and earn himself another four inning save, which would have set him up for his start on Wednesday against Atlanta.

But Blackburn was ... burned. After he gave up the two run single against Mangum, Mendoza pulled him for Kranick, who didn't fare much better.

After the Kameron Misner single to tie the game, Kranick faced Danny Jansen and threw him a meatball which Jansen crushed.

No Justice In No Defense

The most frustrating part of this loss for me is that the Rays, who have been historically known as a fundamentally sound team, made three errors tonight and the Mets couldn't make those errors come back to bite them.

All five Met runs were unearned tonight because of three errors, but the final death blow should have been the Rays totally mangling what should have been an easy 5-6-3 double play to end the game. Instead, the Mets got one more chance to win it with Mauricio at the plate, and the way this win streak has been going, I think we all fully expected Mauricio to make the Rays pay with a base hit or better.

Instead, he struck out to end the game, and the winning streak.  The Mets will look to start a new winning streak on Saturday. Onward.