Sean Manaea pitches well but is victimized by Mets offense in loss

Braves 3 Mets12 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 31-39

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP - Martin Perez (5-3)

LP - Sean Manaea (1-2)

SV - Raisel Iglesias (14)

Seat on the Korner: Eli White

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.

It's been uttered in this town that you can't spell "elite" without "Eli". Eli White went elite all over Sean Manaea today with a double and a home run to lead the Braves to victory over the Mets, setting up the rubber game of the series on Sunday.

Need to Know

• Sean Manaea made his first appearance for the Mets against the Braves. He pitched six full innings for the first time since September 21st, 2024 (seven innings against the Phillies.) Today, he went six innings, giving up two runs on four hits and zero walks while striking out six Braves.

• Mark Vientos' RBI single in the 6th inning broke an 0-for-17 stretch.

• Martin Perez pitched 5 and 1/3 innings, giving up a run on four hits and a walk while striking out four. He was pulled after 71 pitches.

• Eli White had five extra base hits in 74 at-bats coming into the game. He had three today in four at-bats. Here are the two that made the difference:

Turning Point

We'll take you to the bottom of the sixth. The Mets were getting rolled by Martin Perez, who came into the game with a career 4-0 record against the Mets with a 3.09 ERA in 43 and 2/3's innings. Walt Weiss then curiously went to Dylan Lee in the 6th to face Juan Soto with one out and a runner on. Lee had some good success against Soto, but after retiring him he had to face Mark Vientos, who tagged him in the two at-bats where he faced him.

Make it three.

But after that, Lee faced Marcus Semien as the go ahead run, and struck him out to end the inning and only real Mets threat of the afternoon until the 9th inning.

Three Keys

Sean's Run

Saturday's game was destined to be difficult at the very least with the righty hitting lineup in the game, and with multiple relievers not being available due to frequent and hard use. That it remained this close is a testament to the work of Manaea, who has started to bridge the gap between his recent performance and his 2024 salad days. He may never get there again, but he's getting to a point where he can go from bulk/piggyback guy to an actual starter on this team.

The Mets could really benefit from this continuing.

Sources Say Fuentes is Good

The Braves bullpen was lights out today (it shouldn't have been, but we'll get to that later): but the highlight for me was DIdier Fuentes in the 7th inning.

Good Lord, how many years are we going to have to put up with this guy, in addition to all the others?

The Final Indignities

Juan Soto led off the 9th against Raisel Iglesias with what should have been his third home run in as many games. However ...

Somebody has to show me the irrefutable evidence that exists to overturn that call. You can't overturn the call, no matter what it is, without clear and conclusive evidence. There was none. No finger on that fan's hand moved one bit. But hey, the umps had an awful day today so why not compound it by having the replay center have an awful day to match, right?

(Also, nice job fan. Glad it was worth you getting on television.)

Okay now that I got that off my chest: The inning continues and Mark Vientos strikes out for the first out. But then Marcus Semien walks to bring the winning run up to the plate in Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez saw two pitches: One in his happy zone that he took, and another one six inches inside which he grounded into a double play.

When it goes bad, it goes bad. You take strikes and swing at balls. You get home runs taken away from you at your home ballpark. You give up three extra base hits to a guy that had five all season. The list goes on.