Even after the Mets fought back twice Saturday night, including against Mariners ace Luis Castillo, they still came up short.
They overcame three-run and four-run deficits, but Adam Ottavino gave up a leadoff homer to J.P. Crawford in the top of the ninth and the Mariners held on for an 8-7 win at Citi Field.
In the bottom of the ninth, however, after Daniel Vogelbach led off with a single to left-center, he inexplicably tried to get to second and was thrown out.
DJ Stewart followed with a single, but pinch-hitter Brett Baty popped out and Francisco Alvarez, also pinch-hitting, grounded out to end it.
It was an ugly finish to another rough night in Queens after the Mets battled back from an early deficit with Castillo on the mound for Seattle and erased another hole with Jeff McNeil’s RBI triple that scored Francisco Lindor in the eighth.
Manager Buck Showalter didn’t dwell as much on the missed late chances — including Vogelbach’s baserunning gaffe — but instead noted that his team had squandered plenty of better opportunities earlier in the game.
Adam Ottavino grimaces after giving up the game-winning homer to J.P. Crawford in the Mets’ 8-7 loss to the Mariners. Robert Sabo for New York PostThey wasted a leadoff double from Brandon Nimmo in the first inning and another by Jeff McNeil in the fifth, as they went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 runners on base.
“We didn’t execute getting those runs home,’’ Showalter said of the early doubles. “We did a lot of things to get back in that ballgame [against] a team that’s operating on all cylinders.”
David Peterson, coming off his best start of the season — when he allowed just one run in seven innings against the Angels — wasn’t nearly as effective on Saturday.
Jeff McNeil hits an RBI triple in the eigth inning of the Mets’ loss. Robert Sabo for NY PostThe lefty gave up four runs in four-plus innings, and Showalter said Peterson was wild in the strike zone.
Peterson, though, said he believed his stuff was good and said he was surprised when Showalter pulled him after he hit Crawford with a pitch to start the fifth inning.
Still, Seattle teed off on Peterson for much of his outing. He gave up a pair of hard-hit balls to Crawford and Julio Rodriguez in the first inning, but didn’t allow a run.
David Peterson is taken out of the game by Buck Showalter in the fifth inning of the Mets’ loss. Robert Sabo for NY PostTeoscar Hernandez hammered a leadoff homer in the second, the third ball hit at more than 100 mph by the Mariners in the first four batters of the game.
Rodriguez also crushed an RBI triple to center — this one 107 mph — in the third and Hernandez added a run-scoring single later in the inning to make it 3-0.
But the Mets woke up in the bottom of the fourth, when Pete Alonso led off with a single that he scorched at 113 mph to left field.
Daniel Vogelbach is thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double during the ninth inning of the Mets’ loss. Getty ImagesCastillo then hit Vogelbach with a pitch before the sizzling-hot Stewart blasted a three-run homer to center to tie the score. It was Stewart’s ninth home run in his last 15 games.
But Seattle went up on Peterson and the Mets again in the fifth on a sacrifice fly and got a pinch-hit homer from Dominic Canzone in the sixth.
The Mets answered with homers from Lindor and Mark Vientos in the bottom of the inning, but were never able to get ahead.
