Sleepy in Seattle: Mets Manage Only Two Hits in Extra Inning Loss

Mariners 3 Mets 2 (T-Mobile Park, Seattle WA)

Mets record: 26-34

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP -Gabe Speier (1-2)

LP -A.J. Minter (0-1)

Seat on the Korner: Gabe Speier

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.

In a game essentially devoid of hitting, let's show a little love to the relief pitcher who came in to start the 10th inning, with the runner on second, nobody out and Juan Soto at the plate. If you're the Mets, this is just what you want" your best hitter at bat -- certainly one who knows that at the very least he has to make contact and advance the runner to third. Soto worked the count full, helped by an overturned called strike three, but then Speier threw a four-seam fastball that Soto couldn't handle. Speier went on to strike out Mark Vientos and get A.J. Ewing to pop out to short. Ralph will walk Speier through the inning and then talk about the pressures relievers feel under the new extra-innings rules.

Need to Know

• The loss ended the Mets' four-game winning streak, tied for their longest of the season.

• The Mets managed only two hits, both solo home runs.

• The game was the first of a seven-day, six game trip that will also take them to San Diego. It is the last time the team will head to the West Coast this season, barring a playoff berth (I know...from your keyboard to God's ears....)

• The Mets finished May having gone 16-12 over their last 28 games. that did not totally overcome the dreadful, 7-19 April.

• Also celebrating a merry month of May: Carson Benge, who slashed .306/.375/.426 with 33 hits, 19 runs, seven doubles, two homers, 15 RBI, nine walks and three steals. He was the first Mets rookie to notch 30 hits in May since Pete Alonso in 2019.

• Want another positive Mets stat? Going into the game, Mets pitchers had tallied 551 strikeouts, tied for the most in the NL and the second-most in MLB.

• Austin Warren served as the opener for Sean Manaea. It was Warren's first-ever start, but he wasn't expected to provide length. After a perfect first, he walked the leadoff batter in the second and gave way to Manaea.

• The series continues Tuesday night. Logan Gilbert take the ball for the Mariners; the Mets' starter is the ever-popular TBA.

  
  

Turning Point

What can you say about a game in which five runs were scored (on only six hits), four of them bases-empty home runs? And in an extra inning game, it's natural to say the turning point was Cole Young's walkoff single. Well, we won't do that, although we do show the video of it because there was none available for either of the two plays that could be called the turning point : Gabe Speier's strikeout of Juan Soto in the top of the 10th (as described above), or Randy Arozarena's steal of third in the bottom of the frame.

Can you credit Arozarena or blame A.J. Minter, on the mound for the Mets in his first high-pressure situation since returning from year-long lat injury? Minter seemed overly concerned about holding Arozarena close to the bag, but after two disengagements, he essentially gave Arozarena a head start to make it to third without a throw when Minter struck out Patrick Wisdom.

Three Keys

Opener Season?

There probably aren't any statistics on this (or at least none that have made their way into the team's game notes), but the Mets may lead the league in performances by iffy lefthanded starters who follow an opener into the game. That strategy seems to have worked wonders for David Peterson, and now Sean Manaea is following suit. Manaea entered the game one batter into the second inning and hurled five innings, yielding only Colt Emerson's third-inning home run. Manaea walked one, struck out four and threw only 63 pitches over the five innings. Will this earn him a second follow-the-opener assignment in the rotation? The way he threw in this game seems like he certainly earned another chance.

On the Marcus

Second baseman Marcus Semien continued to show signs that he has emerged from his season-long slump. Semien homered in his second straight game, a dinger that gave the Mets a brief lead. On the last homestand, Semien was 7-for-20, with a double, two home runs, three walks and four RBI. The way he has hit this year, it's easy to forget that Semien hit 45 home runs in 2021 and 26, 29 and 23 in the years after that. If he can turn the power from now on, that could be a big boost for the Mets' lineup.

Young Ideas

Jared Young got the start at first base, and he responded by breaking up Emerson Hancock's perfect game with a home run in the fifth. It was Young's second home run of the season, and his second in three days. It was only Young's 17th game this season -- he spent six weeks on the IL with a torn meniscus -- so the sample is small. But his stats when he starts? Going into the game, his slash line for the 10 previous starts was .310/.394/.483. Especially considering how hitting-starved this Mets lineup has been, manager Carlos Mendoza will need to find some way to keep him there, even after Jorge Polanco returns from his IL stint.