OMG: Mets' Streak Ended by Candelita In the Wind

Padres 7 Mets 6 (Petco Park, San Diego, CA)

Mets record: 62-45

Mets streak: Lost 1

Last 10: 7-3

WP - Robert Suarez (3-4)

LP - Gregory Soto (0-3)

SV - Edwin Diaz (23)

L10 7-3

Seat on the Korner: Luis Arraez

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.

Luis Arraez is known for his ability to get on base, usually by spraying hits all over the place. He is not known for his power -- the most home runs he has hit is 10, in 2023. But he hit a Frankie Montas pitch high and far for a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth that started the Padres on the way back from a four-run deficit. Arraez is in the midst of one of his usual seasons: he leads the league in three-hit-plus games and is one of six players with 20+ multi-hit games, including tonight. He also is one of four players with more walks than strikeouts. Take a seat, Luis, and tell Ralph about how it feels to hit a key homer instead of a key single.

Need to Know

• The loss ended the Mets' seven-game winning streak, their longest of the year. .

• Nevertheless, the Mets did not lose any ground to the Phillies. The White Sox (you read that right) defeated the Phillies, 6-2, helped by home runs from Colson Montgomery and Luis Robert Jr., who has been mentioned as a possible trade target for the Mets. The loss kept the Phils 1 1/2 games behind the Mets. The Chisox, by the way, only need two more wins to match their total from all of last year

• Center field agrees with Jeff McNeil, at least when it comes to how he hits. Going into Monday night's game, McNeil had appeared in 27 games at center. In those games, he was hitting .328/.392/.522, with seven runs, five doubles, one triple, two homers, nine RBI and eight walks. Make it 11 walks now in 27 games, after getting three free passes Monday night.

• The Padres are no stranger to close games: 61 of their 107 games (57 percent) have been decided by two runs or less, including 12 of their past 17.

• With home run number 25 against the Giants Sunday night, Juan Soto became the first player in MLB history to hit four 24 home runs with four different teams before his 29th birthday. Only one other Met has hit 25 homes runs for four teams that includes the Mets: Dave Kingman. Gary Sheffield hit 25 homes runs for six different teams, but although he played with the Mets, they are not one of those six teams.

• The series continues with another late-night (on the East Coast) start. Sean Manaea takes the ball for the Mets . As of this writing, the Padres' starter was the ever-popular TBA.

  
  

Turning Point

After a dramatic Ronny Mauricio home run to tie the game in the top of the ninth, Gregory Soto took the mound for the Mets. He gave up a single to Xander Bogaerts and up came former Met favorite Jose Iglesias, pinch-hitting for Gavin Sheets in a clear bunting situation. Iglesias bunted the ball back to Soto, who fielded it cleanly and clearly had a force on Bogaerts. Only he threw wildly to second and Bogaerts was safe. A second bunt, by Jake Cronenworth, did result in Bogaerts being retired at third, but Iglesias was still in scoring position and came home with the winning run when Elias Diaz singled two batters later. We'll call the wild throw the turning point.

Three Keys

A Double Meltdown Blows A Big Lead

When staked to a lead in the top of an inning, really good pitchers know how to keep their feet on the other team's throats. Others....well, just look at the double pitching meltdown in the bottom of the fifth, after the Mets had taken a four-run lead in the top of the frame, thanks to a Mark Vientos grand slam. Frankie Montas immediately started giving it back, yielding a double to Fernando Tatis Jr and a home run to banjo-hitting Luis Arraez. It only got worse from there: a single to Manny Machado, a double to Xander Bogaerts and it was time for Huascar Brazoban to come in. Brazoban got Gavin Sheets to foul out, but then vapor locked when Jake Cronenworth hit a hard grounder down the first base line that Pete Alonso fielded deftly. Brazoban finally realized he had to be more than a spectator, but arrived too late to the base for Alonso's throw to get Croneworth and end the inning. We'll call that the turning point, because it only got worse from there. Two hits and a walk later, the Padres had taken the lead.

Cease, Fired?

It was a weird night for Padres starter Dylan Cease, taking the mound in what could be his last game in brown and yellow. Cease struck out the side in the first, allowed a sacrifice fly in the second, took a ball that bounced off his head for a Francisco Lindor double in the third (but recovered to strike out the side), yielded two walks in the fourth but then pitched out of trouble. He headed into the fifth with a lot of strikeouts but a high pitch count. Brandon Nimmo singled. Lindor cued one off the end of his bat for an infield single, Juan Soto hit into a fielder's choice -- and promptly stole second, seemingly without Cease even noticing. An ill-advised (in retrospect) intentional walk to Jeff McNeil brought up Mark Viento. Robbed of a home run in his previous at-bat, Vientos didn't give Fernando Tatis a chance to rob him again, hitting one deep into the right field seats for his first career grand slam.

From the Angel Hernandez School of Umpiring

We really don't like single out umpiring as one of the keys to the game, but we'll make an exception here. Home plate umpire Emil Jimenez had a floating strike zone that seemed most to upset Juan Soto. In what was a bizarre third inning (see above), one of the lowlights was Soto's at bat. Soto, of course, has a reputation of knowing the strike zone, so it's understandable that he was upset when Jimenez called a very high strike and then, two pitches late, a closer but probably also high and outside pitch a strike to punch him out. The Mets' right fielder was livid; he had to be restrained by Pete Alonso as he protested and manager Carlos Mendoza sacrificed himself to keep Soto in the game. Perhaps proving it really was personal, in a subsequent at-bat, Jimenez punched Soto out on a pitch that the late Bob Uecker would describe as "just a little high" and seemed to be baiting Soto to argue. Soto did not take the bait. We wonder if Mendoza would have managed the bottom of the fifth differently than stand-in John Gibbons, who let Huascar Brazoban melt down, repeatedly, as the Mets coughed up the lead.