One night after blowout victory, Mets' offense stalls in loss to Marlins
The Mets' Tomas Nido reacts after he struck out with bases loaded to end the fourth inning against the Marlins in an MLB game at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
After scoring 10 runs in a cakewalk win over Miami on Thursday, the Mets were held down by five Marlins pitchers in a 5-2 loss on Friday night at Citi Field.
The Mets’ runs came on home runs by Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor. But they were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.
The crowd of 25,208 was poised to enjoy a Mets comeback after Lindor made it 4-2 in the eighth with his 14th home run, a one-out shot to left off lefthander Steven Okert.
With two outs, Okert hit Jeff McNeil with a pitch and walked Mark Canha and pinch hitter J.D. Davis to load the bases. Okert then fell behind Eduardo Escobar 2-and-0 before throwing a strike and then getting Escobar to lunge at an 80-mph slider and pop out to center.
“The 2-and-0 pitch to him’s obviously a ball,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “Turned the whole at-bat around. But that’s part of the game. We had enough opportunities to make those things not matter.”
A night after the lopsided victory, the Mets couldn’t get the big hit, even when Okert gifted them a rally in the eighth. And it cost them in the standings as Atlanta beat Washington, 12-2, to pull within 2½ games of the NL East-leading Mets.
Mets starter Chris Bassitt, who returned from an unwanted stay on the COVID-19 list, picked up the loss despite allowing only two runs in 6 1⁄3 innings.
Miami took a 2-1 lead off Bassitt (6-6, 3.94 ERA) on Joey Wendle’s fifth-inning sacrifice fly and extended it to 4-1 on Garrett Cooper’s two-run homer off Drew Smith in the eighth.
Asked what his biggest concern after the layoff was, Bassitt said: “I would just say fatigue. I did a lot of cardio . . . I felt really good. Just keep them off balance for the most part.”
Showalter said on Friday he talked to Bassitt about controversial comments the pitcher made a day earlier about his recent stay on the COVID list.
Bassitt, who said he tested positive on June 29 on a home test, said he regretted informing the Mets because he never had any symptoms, and added that he “probably” won’t tell his team if he tests positive again for “the rest of my career.”
Bassitt also said “it’s ridiculous we’re still doing it” in regard to MLB’s COVID testing and restrictions for players who test positive.
Bassitt’s comments brought up all kinds of questions about his responsibility to his team and his teammates and whether MLB’s COVID policy — in which asymptomatic players who test positive have to sit out until they are negative over a period of time — makes sense.
Showalter was asked if he addressed the issue with Bassitt.
“If we had — which I wouldn’t, certainly, broadcast it — we talked to Chris and what have you,” Showalter said. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I’m not going to get into anything politically. He’s free to express himself as a human being. We’ve talked. I’ll leave it at that.”
Bassitt allowed six hits and no walks and struck out three in his first start since June 25.
“Considering 12 days off, that’s about as good as you could expect,” Showalter said. “He was obviously strong . . . You can tell he’s been doing some work to stay kind of tuned up. But that’s a good first outing for him. We just couldn’t score any runs.
“We had a lot of opportunities. It wasn’t Drew or Joely [Rodriguez] or Bass. We knew it was going to be a challenge with their pitching staff and the opportunities we got. What did we leave, like 10 guys on base? Great job of setting the table. Just couldn’t get that big blow to put us over the hump.”
Jake Reed, who threw two scoreless innings on Thursday, was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Bassitt.
Miami took a 1-0 lead in the second on Bryan De La Cruz’s one-out RBI double.
In the bottom half, Canha had a two-out double and Dominic Smith walked. But Escobar struck out against Pablo Lopez (6-4, 2.91 ERA).
After Nimmo tied it with his eighth home run, Starling Marte doubled, but Lopez got Lindor and Pete Alonso to ground out.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
