Seattle had not hosted the New York Mets since 2017. Most likely, they would never want to return.
With a 12-1 victory on Sunday, the Mariners wrapped up their three-game demolition of New York. The Mets’ only consolation was that Jeff McNeil’s single home run in the sixth inning saved them from the humiliation of losing a three-game series without winning for the first time in franchise history.
As is, Seattle outscored the Mets 22-1 over three days at T-Mobile Park.
“They were just better than us in pretty much every area,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “They outplayed us the whole series.”
“They played better defense, they ran the bases better, they hit better than us, they outpitched us,” Francisco Lindor said. “They played better baseball than us.”
Most of the blame for this weekend falls, naturally, on that offense. Lindor had five hits and McNeil three; the rest of the club combined for nine. Brandon Nimmo went hitless. Pete Alonso went hitless with six strikeouts.
NYM 1
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) August 12, 2024
SEA 12
Final
The Mets would rather not come back here anytime soon.
They're 61-57.
But during the weekend, there were other issues outside the offensive. Despite being considerably better since the beginning of the season, New York’s defense was careless on Sunday. A softly hit two-out groundball by Randy Arozarena in the fifth inning escaped Lindor’s grasp. It was hard enough that a run scored on the play, but it was even harder when Cal Raleigh’s home run two pitches later brought two more home.
“I had to close it for (Luis Severino),” Lindor said of the play, lamenting the angle he took to get the ball out of his glove. “It would have been 1-0 instead of 4-0.”
After tracking down Victor Robles’ grounder up the middle in the sixth, McNeil threw wildly to first instead of eating it. All of the players were able to advance an extra base when the ball skipped by Alonso and into the dugout. Raleigh’s home run came two batters after that one as well.
The pitching staff in New York was unable to match Seattle’s caliber. On Saturday, Sean Manaea was worked around, needing 85 pitches to get nine outs. After giving up that first-pitch home run to Raleigh on Sunday, Severino has given up 15 runs in his last three starts.
“When we’re not hitting, we have to keep these games close,” Severino said.
Sunday, the bullpen did not make things better. In the sixth inning, Ryne Stanek and Adam Ottavino combined to give up six runs.
Seattle’s superb play made those shortcomings stand out even more. With 21 strikeouts against just four walks, the Mariners’ starting pitchers gave up that one run in 19 innings. On Saturday night, they turned in as good of a double play as they have all season against the Mets, among other highlight-reel plays in the field. Throughout the entire weekend, Seattle appeared to be the team that may advance in October.
Luckily, the Mets have an off day on Monday to recover from their arduous journey west. Even though they had a 4-6 record at the end of the road trip, they had begun it a half-game out of the wild card.
“I don’t care how far or close we are,” Severino said. “We need to keep going. We need to win games.”
New York’s upcoming homestand is nine games long, and it starts with a pair of last-place teams in the A’s and Marlins.
“We’ve still got a lot of meaningful games ahead of us,” Mendoza said. “Reset, regroup, and be ready Tuesday.”
The exposition
The Mariners thoroughly defeated the Mets. They trail Atlanta by a half-game for the third wild card spot in the National League, at 61-57.
Over the weekend, the Athletics defeated the Blue Jays in Toronto, taking two of the three games. Including 13-8 after the All-Star break, Oakland is 50-69.
In the end, the Marlins managed to hold onto a lead against the Padres, preserving Sunday’s final game of their three-game series. Before that victory, Miami had lost three straight games into extra innings (which looked like they were headed to extras until a home run tied the score was overturned by review). Marlins record: 44–75.
The pitching possibles
v. Oakland
RHP Paul Blackburn (5-2, 3.86 ERA) v. RHP Ross Stripling (2-11, 5.72 ERA)
LHP David Peterson (6-1, 3.34) v. RHP Mitch Spence (7-8, 4.33)
LHP Jose Quintana (6-8, 4.10) v. RHP Joey Estes (5-4, 4.70)
v. Miami
LHP Sean Manaea (8-5, 3.44) v. RHP Edward Cabrera (2-3, 5.20)
RHP Luis Severino (7-6, 4.17) v. RHP Roddery Muñoz (2-6, 5.67)
RHP Paul Blackburn v. RHP Max Meyer (3-2, 5.20)
Injury updates
Mets injured list
| Player | Injury | Elig. | ETA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right pronator strain | Now | 8. August | |
| Right shoulder impingement | Now | 8. August | |
| Right knee bone bruise | Now | 8. August | |
| UCL sprain in right elbow | Now | 9. September | |
| Right elbow strain | 8/23 | X. 2025 | |
| High-grade left calf strain | 9/25 | X. 2025 | |
| Torn right ACL | Now | X. 2025 | |
| Tommy John surgery | Now | X. 2025 |
Red = 60-day IL
Orange = 15-day IL
Blue = 10-day IL
- Double-A Binghamton’s Starling Marte went 0-for-2 with a walk on Sunday in six innings. Marte is scheduled to play again on Tuesday; the club will be off on Monday. Before activating Marte, the Mets would like to see him play at least seven innings in the field on consecutive days.
- Rain cancelled Sean Reid-Foley’s planned rehab visit with Syracuse. He will now most likely pitch Tuesday for at least one inning. The Mets want Reid-Foley to control his walk problem and demonstrate that he can pitch several innings before they activate him, as I wrote over the weekend.
- On Sunday, Dedniel Núñez gave a bullpen session. He has another appointment set for Tuesday, and following that, he might visit a rehab facility.
- Christian Scott is “symptom-free” in his elbow, Mendoza said, but he has to rebuild strength in his arm before beginning a throwing program.
- Mark Vientos was sidelined on Sunday due to discomfort in his left ankle. Although Vientos’ ankle has been hurting since the previous homestand, he claimed he should be good to go on Tuesday.
The wild-card schedule
San Diego (66-53): PIT3, at COL3
Arizona (66-53): COL3, at TB3
Atlanta (61-56): at SF4, at LAA3
St. Louis (60-58): at CIN3, LAD3
San Francisco (61-59): ATL4, at OAK2
Minor-league schedule
Triple-A: Syracuse at Rochester (Washington)
Double-A: Binghamton v. Portland (Boston)
High-A: Brooklyn at Wilmington (Washington)
Low-A: St. Lucie at Daytona (Cincinnati)
Last week in Mets
A note on the epigraph
Having enjoyed “White Teeth” so well, I have mixed feelings about the other two Smith books I have read, NW and Swing Time. It might be a timing problem. I read “NW” during spring training, which is never a good time to read a novel because I am not reading it long enough to fully absorb the story. While on parental leave, I read “The Fraud” over the course of around six weeks, which is definitely not the best time to read.
Trivia time
Tug McGraw tossed a memorable six innings out of the bullpen in Game 2 of the 1973 World Series against Oakland, which saved the Mets from elimination after the team had originally blown a save in the ninth. Which pitcher got the save for New York after McGraw ran out of gas in the 12th inning, but not another start later in the series?
(I’ll reply to the correct answer in the comments.)
(Photo of Francisco Lindor: Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)
