Mets drop eighth straight, waste Brandon Sproat's excellent Citi Field debut in 3-2 loss to Rangers

The Mets blew a 2-0 lead in the final two innings and lost 3-2 to the Texas Rangers on Saturday at Citi Field, extending their losing streak to eight straight games.

Here are the takeaways…

— The Mets let a 2-0 lead after seven innings get away, as the Rangers rallied for two runs in the eighth, started by a catcher’s interference call, and then scored the go-ahead run in the ninth.

Edwin Diaz, called upon with two outs in the eighth, gave up a game-tying double and then came back in the ninth to give up the lead.

The Rangers’ ninth-inning rally started with a line drive off Francisco Lindor’s glove. It was ruled a hit but looked like a ball Lindor should have caught. After a sacrifice bunt, Diaz gave up a two-out line drive single into right-center by Wyatt Langford to put Texas ahead.

— Brandon Sproat was outstanding in his second major league start, throwing six shutout innings, attacking with such efficiency that he threw only 70 pitches.

He surely could have gone another inning but Carlos Mendoza was likely influenced by some hard contact Sproat gave up in the sixth inning, and went to his bullpen for Brooks Raley in the seventh.

Sproat pitched with great command, staying mostly on the corners with all of his pitches. He consistently got in on the hands of Rangers’ right-handed hitters with his running two-seamer, and kept hitters off balance with his sweeper and changeup as well.

He allowed no walks while striking out three against this team of mostly contact hitters. In two starts Sproat has a 2.25 ERA.

— Lindor almost single-handedly manufactured a run to get the Mets on the board in the fifth inning. A good throw from Patrick Corbin might have nailed Lindor, but the throw was wild, allowing the run to score.

The shortstop led off by dropping a perfect bunt single down the third base line, then made a great read on Pete Alonso’s bloop single — daring as it was — that fell just out of 2B Cody Freeeman’s reach, going to third base on the play. And when the throw caromed off 3B Josh Jung, Lindor gambled again and took off, even though Corbin was backing up the play.

— Soto’s solo home run in the seventh inning was a bomb into the upper deck in right field, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. In addition, he became only the third hitter in major league history, along with Barry Bonds and Jeff Bagwell, to hit 40 or more HRs, have 30 or more SBs and 100 or more walks.

With the long ball Soto became the first Met to ever record a 40/30 season, with 40 HRs and 30 stolen bases.

— The Rangers rallied for two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game. With Tyler Rogers pitching, the rally started when Francisco Alvarez was called for catcher’s interference on a Josh Smith swing, and Langford followed with a double into the left-field corner, putting runners at second and third.

After a sacrifice fly made it 2-1, and then a strikeout, Mendoza went to Diaz for a potential four-out save. But Diaz walkedJung and gave up a double to the right field corner by Rowdy Tellez on a hanging slider, scoring Langford to tie the game 2-2.

— The Mets knocked Corbin out in the fifth inning, but in scoring just one run against him they really missed an opportunity against a journeyman starter who has been especially vulnerable on the road this season. The Mets had him on the ropes early, but after loading the bases with two outs, Starling Marte took strike three on the inside corner to end the inning.

The left-hander has been mediocre for years: He hasn’t posted an ERA-plus number anywhere near league average since 2019. This season he’s been a serviceable back-end starter for Texas overall, going 7-9 with a 4.36 ERA, but in 14 road starts coming into Saturday he had a 5.63 ERA with a 1.472 WHIP.

— Brett Baty made his second baserunning blunder this week, getting picked off second base with no outs in the sixth inning, short-circuiting a potential rally when the Mets were leading 1-0.

Baty was picked off first base in the late innings earlier this week in a close game in Philadelphia, with Soto at the plate.

For some reason, Baty didn’t slide going back into second on Saturday. It looked like he may have been safe with a slide.

Game MVP: Brandon Sproat

Even in a losing cause, Sproat’s six shutout innings in his second major league start was a huge lift for the Mets, coming off Jonah Tong’s disastrous start on Friday night.

If nothing else, it offered hope for the future for the Mets.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets and Rangers close out their three-game series with a Sunday matinee starting at 1:40 p.m. on PIX11.

RHP Nolan McLean (4-1, 1.42 ERA) looks to keep his great start to his career going and will match up against LHP Jacob Latz (2-0, 2.91 ERA).

Read the full article here