Marcus Stroman, bullpen can't hold down D-backs after dust-up

PHOENIX — Edwin Diaz and Trevor May blew saves in consecutive innings Tuesday night as the Mets lost to the Diamondbacks, 6-5, to end their five-game winning streak.

Josh Reddick hit a walk-off, two-run double against May in the 10th inning. The soft line drive down the rightfield line rattled around the corner, eluding rightfielder Brandon Drury. That allowed Pavin Smith to score from first.

If the ball was fair, it was barely so. The call was upheld by umpires after a replay review, which awkwardly delayed the Diamondbacks’ celebration.

"It’s foul," said May, who has allowed runs in five of his past eight appearances (8.11 ERA). "It still is [foul] to this moment in my opinion. They saw whatever they saw.

"It’s just the way the game goes sometimes. We didn’t really have a good look. There’s one camera that was watching, evidently. I don’t know. It’s tough. It’s hard to deal with. Didn’t have a lot of time to cool down."

In the ninth, Diaz lost his first lead of the year. He allowed a two-out single to Josh Rojas, who earlier in the game spurred a benches-clearing episode with Marcus Stroman.

That ruckus after the fifth inning was when the game seemed to turn. The Mets (26-21) led 2-0 at the time and quickly doubled that margin, but the Diamondbacks (20-36) rallied against Stroman, Diaz and May.

That led to the Diamondbacks’ second win in 16 games.

"I was trying to mix things up there and stir the pot a little bit and get us going," Rojas said. "I think it worked in our favor . . . The boys were going after that."

The dugouts and bullpens emptied after Rojas and Stroman locked eyes following Rojas’ inning-ending pop-out. Rojas said something to Stroman, and Stroman said something back, but both declined to disclose the specifics.

The teams converged briefly near first base as managers Luis Rojas and Torey Lovullo talked it out.

"He was looking at me after I flew out," Josh Rojas said. "We made eye contact and we had an exchange of words. I was just trying to get the guys going. He was out there throwing well.

"I would rather he not stare at me. It wasn't to the point where I was angry about it. I wanted to say something back to him. I felt that I wanted to say something to him about staring at me, but I don't take offense to it. It didn't anger me."

Throughout, Josh Rojas was smiling. Jonathan Villar, on his way back to the Mets’ dugout, also was smiling — until he saw an angry Stroman. Then his facial expression turned serious.

Even as the situation settled down, Stroman — who had retreated from the middle of the brouhaha to just about the dugout — continued to yell at the Diamondbacks from afar. First-base coach Tony Tarasco gently impeded him, more so by standing in front of Stroman than actually holding him.

Luis Rojas called it "a flare of emotions." Lovullo described it as "really a non-issue," attributed to "the intensity of moments between two players."

Stroman was uninterested in discussing it.

"I’m not commenting on any of that," he said.

Did it wake up the Diamondbacks?

"I couldn’t tell you. I have no idea. Why don’t you ask them?" Stroman suggested.

Lovullo said: "They were energized after that. There was a different level of focus and concentration. We got into that zone a little bit that we're used to playing in. Maybe that gave us a little bit of a shock treatment to the system and got us in a good spot."

Stroman finished six innings having allowed three runs — all of which scored on Smith’s home run an inning after the benches-clearing excitement.

"I thought I was good," Stroman said. "I made one bad pitch. That’s how baseball is sometimes. All my stuff felt really great, to be honest."

Did the adrenaline rush of the benches clearing affect him?

"Not at all," Stroman said.

The Mets came out hot in the top of the sixth, immediately after the Stroman-Rojas commotion, adding two runs. Villar led off with a single and scored on Francisco Lindor’s triple. Lindor scored on Dominic Smith’s sacrifice fly to rightfield (which would have been an extra-base hit if not for Reddick’s jumping catch).

It wasn’t enough against fired-up Arizona.

"I know there's not going to be any punches thrown out on the field," Josh Rojas said. "I've always been fiery. I like to say things here and there just to stir the pot, change the energy in our favor."