Mets blow a late lead, suffer a bone crushing defeat to the Padres
In a must-win situation for the Mets, they couldn't hold a lead with five outs to go on Sunday. Plus, what should the Mets do with José Buttó?
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets suffered a crushing defeat on Sunday afternoon as they let a late inning lead slip away in San Diego before ultimately falling to the Padres 3-2 (Box)
LHP José Quintana started for the Mets and bounced back in a big way, going 6.1 shutout innings while scattering just four hits and issuing two walks
The Mets scored both of their runs on solo homers, one from J.D. Martinez in the 4th and another from Mark Vientos in the 7th
With a 2-0 lead in the 8th, RHP José Buttó served up a game tying two-run homer to Jurickson Profar
An inning later, Jackson Merrill connected on a walk-off homer against Edwin Diaz to set the Mets to Phoenix with a bitter taste in their mouths
Injury Updates 🏥
INF Brett Baty suffered a fractured finger after being hit by a pitch on Thursday. Per the club, a typical return to play from this injury is 4-6 weeks. He will not require surgery
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Paul Blackburn (hand contusion) placed on injured list
RHP Huascar Brazoban recalled from Triple-A Syracuse
Playoff Race 🏁
The Mets finally got some help with the Nationals defeating the Braves, but thanks to a late inning collapse in San Diego they couldn’t take advantage. New York remains 2.5 games behind Atlanta for the final playoff spot in the National League
There are 31 games remaining.
Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 19.5% chance of making the postseason.
New York has the ninth most difficult schedule in MLB the rest of the way.
Tiebreakers:
vs. ATL: 5-5
vs. ARI: 2-2
vs. CIN: 2-1
vs. SD: 5-2 (finished)
vs. STL: 4-2 (finished)
vs. SF: 2-4 (finished)
vs. PIT: 5-2 (finished)
vs. CHC: 4-3 (finished)
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Drew Gilbert (No. 3 Prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI
RHP Dom Hamel (No. 15 Prospect, Triple-A): 4.1 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
RHP Nolan McLean (No. 9 Prospect, Double-A): 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 K
CF A.J. Ewing (No. 29 Prospect, Single-A): 3-for-5, HR, 4 RBI, 2 R
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off tonight and will continue their road trip in Phoenix against the Diamondbacks tomorrow night
Brutal… ✍️
by Michael Baron
I am not sure there are any days on the baseball calendar a team can absorb losses like the one the Mets took on Sunday. These are always tough pills to swallow. Regardless of the time of year, these are games in the third of the calendar that define a season, games teams look back on and say, “shit, that cost us.”
Then there are days like August 25, when the Mets were 2.5 games out of a wild card berth when play began, they’re in the final fifth of their regular season schedule, the Braves had already lost and the Mets had a chance to not only gain ground on them, but win a series against one of the two hottest teams in the sport on their home turf.
They had a two-run lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. José Buttó - who had relieved José Quintana after 6.1 shutout innings - had just retired David Peralta on a groundout.
The Mets needed five outs for a series win. And what has ultimately proven to be the most difficult innings for the Mets all year long proved to be insurmountable.
Buttó then walked the number nine hitter Mason McCoy, the worst possible thing he could’ve done in that situation with that spot in the order. That brought up the reborn Jurickson Profar - the former Rangers top prospect who was hanging around the league as an afterthought until 2024 - and he made Buttó pay for that walk with a game-tying two-run homer.
As far as I was concerned, that was the game right there. The walks reared their ugly head again. All of the momentum, all of the positives that built up in that game from another dazzling play by José Iglesias and the homers from Mark Vientos and JD Martínez were erased by one bad pitch from Buttó and one big swing from Profar.
Then of course came the ninth inning when Edwin Díaz spun a slider in the middle of the plate to rookie of the year frontrunner Jackson Merrill to put the nail in the coffin.
Given the circumstances, it was a must-win for the Mets going into the game. The Braves had already lost, the Mets had a series to win, and beating San Diego again would’ve gotten them closer.
It went from being one of the most important wins of the year to one of the worst losses of the year in a matter of about 20 minutes.
Quintana was great. That was an important effort from him after four miserable starts in a row. He did everything he was supposed to do and everything he could do to help the Mets win.
And look - you can pin this on the offense all you want for not scoring more runs. But it doesn’t matter how many runs they scored - when a team has a two-run lead in the eighth inning, whether it’s 2-0, 10-8, 20-18, the team simply has to win.
They need to be able to pitch their way to a win just as much as they need to be able to score enough runs to win on other days. As far as I am concerned, a 2-0 lead in the eighth inning is enough to win. Quintana’s effort was enough to win. What Iglesias did defensively was enough to win. The offense Vientos and Martínez had provided was enough to win.
It was the eighth inning with five outs to go.
Especially on August 25. Especially after their most immediate competition in this race already lost. Especially when they have their second nearest competition on the ropes.
There was nothing Mets manager Carlos Mendoza could do, either. He used all of the right pitchers in all of the right situations. They just didn’t come through.
And they just had to win, and they didn’t.
They have a day off now to regroup before they go up against the gauntlet in the Diamondbacks tomorrow night in the desert.
What is the best role for Jose Butto?… ✍️
by Justin Mears
A month ago, the state of the Mets bullpen was a constant source of discussion, as everyone following this team knew upgrades were needed. David Stearns did go out and bring in several external arms, but even with Ryne Stanek and Huascar Brazoban—and even Phil Maton even though he was acquired earlier—now in the mix, this relief corps continues to lack the type of coerciveness and stability needed for a playoff run.
Why is that?
In my opinion, the lack of legitimately outlined roles is contributing.
We know Edwin Díaz is this team’s closer. But other than that, roles seem to be determined on a daily basis.
Dedniel Núñez emerged as perhaps the team’s eighth inning man prior to going on the injured list, and while he did return over the weekend and have a good outing on Saturday, the Mets will likely try to ease him back in.
Then there’s José Buttó, who pitched well as a starter for New York in April, went to Syracuse and had a great first half in Triple-A, and then returned to the Majors as a reliever in July. It’s clear Butto’s stuff places him in the upper echelon of relief options on this team. But it’s also difficult to say if the way he’s been used lately has been the best use of his skillset.
After rejoining the Mets in early July, 11 of Butto’s first 12 relief outings were for multiple innings. New York was essentially continuing to use him on a starters’ type schedule, bringing him in every three or four days and letting him throw two or three innings. This past week, though, they’ve seemed to change the calculus.
In two games against Baltimore, Buttó was brought in in a pure setup role. He wasn’t given the typical amount of rest he’d grown accustomed to as he was used twice in three days, and he wasn’t asked to go deep into the games like he had been previously. Buttó did throw a scoreless frame in each of those outings, but his control was especially worrisome in the second one as he walked the first two hitters he faced.
Fast forward to Sunday, when control again was an issue as he walked the Padres 9th hitter, Mason McCoy, and then got himself into a 2-0 count against Jurickson Profar who then crushed a game tying home run.
I, myself, am a huge José Buttó fan. But after watching the last week unfold, and especially with Núñez back on the active roster, I really don’t think asking Butto to pitch in the eighth inning is prudent.
This rotation has been better lately, but the Mets have had plenty of outings where they don’t go more than five innings. In my opinion, Butto is best used as a dynamic multi-inning swingman, who can come in in the fifth and save the rest of the bullpen every four days. As a career starting pitcher, he just doesn’t have the experience to get himself ready and available every other day, and the Mets don’t have time to team him on the fly right now.
If that means that most of the time the bridge to Díaz has to be Núñez and guys like Maton and Reed Garrett, then so be it. But asking Buttó to do things he’s inexperienced and uncomfortable doing and then getting upset when he falters just seems silly.
Around the League 🚩
Yasmani Grandal blasted a walk-off two-run homer to propel the Pirates past the Reds by the score of 4-3
Aaron Judge crushed two more homers on Sunday in the Yankees 10-3 thrashing of the Rockies
The White Sox lost their 100th game of the season, falling to the Tigers 9-4
Bryan Woo gave the Mariners seven terrific innings, and led Seattle to a 4-3 victory over the Giants
Alejandro Kirk drove in three runs in the Blue Jays 8-2 home victory over the Angels
Yes, you have to win up 2-0, but that team (along with the Diamondbacks) doesn't know when to quit. You also have to score more than two runs. But their pen -- which came in early -- shut the Mets down. So, it goes. Yesterday was a nail on the coffin. It's not totally closed. But it was pretty lethal.
We can second guess. Hey, it's our right as fans. Butto was struggling some. We were somewhat lucky to get out of the 7th. Mendoza pushed him too far. He has been looking more human lately. Diaz was underused of late. Granted him giving up the winning homer doesn't help.
Some was upset Nunez wasn't available. But, he was coming off an injury. A safe start was sensible.