Manaea Shaky, Bullpen Implodes in Mets’ 11-9 Loss to Mariners

It was “The Beatles Night” at Citi Field, and the Mets could have used more help from somebody, anybody in the bullpen.

Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley and Brooks Raley combined to give up six runs as the Mets lost 11-9 to the Seattle Mariners Friday at Citi Field on the 60th anniversary of the Fab Four’s famed concert at Shea Stadium.

The Mets (64-58) have lost 14 of 16. The last time they were six games over .500 was on April 18 when they were 13-7. New York remained a half-game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the final Wild Card spot after the latter lost to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sean Manaea was hit hard for the third-straight outing, giving up four runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out seven, walked one, hit a batter and gave up homers to Cal Raleigh and Mitch Garver. Manaea’s ERA is up to 4.78 over 32 innings. A season ago, he pitched to a 3.47 ERA over 181 2/3 innings.

But Manaea left with the Mets leading 6-4 thanks in large part to Francisco Lindor, who hit two homers and drove in four runs in the first four innings. Juan Soto launched a solo homer (No. 30) and Francisco Alvarez added an RBI single.

Rogers allowed a Cole Young RBI single in the sixth that trimmed the Met lead to 6-5.

The seventh inning was a disaster.

Helsley, who gave up two RBI doubles in the Mets’ loss on Thursday, allowed two more doubles tonight. Raley, who had not given up a run in 8 2/3 innings, was rocked. He allowed an RBI single, a walk, an RBI double and a two-run double. He faced five batters and recorded one out.

Alvarez hit a three-run homer with one out in the eighth to bring the Mets within 11-9, but the club never got the tying run to the plate.

Before the game, manager Carlos Mendoza talked about how the free-falling Mets could turn things around.

“We gotta get back to what good teams do, which is we gotta be able to execute,” he said. “We gotta be able to make the plays. We gotta be able to, you know, if the situation calls for putting the ball in play we have to do that.

“If the situation calls for moving a guy over, throw the ball to the right base, cut the ball, making a big-time defensive play. Things that right now we (are) having a hard time doing it and teams continue to make us pay for it.”

Stats of the Game

The Mets blew a lead for the seventh consecutive game for only the second time in 17 years, per Elias. They lost a lead in eight-straight games in 2023, per Sarah Langs.

Ronny Mauricio stole a base for the Mets’ 37th straight successful try. That is a team record, and the MLB record is 40. The Mets are 96-for-106 stealing bases on the year.

Manaea going five innings means it is 57-straight games that the Mets have failed to have a starter other than David Peterson go at least six innings. It is the longest streak of not having two starters go at least six innings since at least 1901.

Player of the Game

Lindor’s leadoff homer was his seventh, tying a franchise record set twice by Curtis Granderson. He is 9-for-16 with three homers in his last four games and hitting .253/.323/.449 with 24 homers for the season.

On Deck

Nolan McLean will make his MLB debut on Saturday. Will he break the non-Peterson/no six innings streak? The 24-year-old right-hander, taken in the third round of the 2023 draft from Oklahoma State University, pitched to a 2.78 ERA in 87 1/3 innings for Triple-A Syracuse this season. All-Star RHP Bryan Woo (10-6, 3.08 ERA) goes for the Mariners. Game time is 4:10 p.m. ET and it will air on WPIX.

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