It seems these days that most of the things Luis Rojas touches turns rotten rather quickly.
That’s what happened on Sunday afternoon as the Mets dropped their second straight to lose their three-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays in a 7-3 decision in Buffalo just hours after the Jets dropped their season opener to the Bills 13 miles away.
In the first inning in which he turned to his bullpen after five strong innings from David Peterson — who threw just 81 pitches — Brad Brach and Jared Hughes allowed five runs in the sixth inning to blow open what was once a 2-1 game.
With the loss, the Mets are back down to five games under .500 (21-26) with just 13 games remaining in the regular season to try and sneak into one of the final playoff spots in the National League.
Dominic Smith continues to be not only one of the Mets’ best bats, but one of the top offensive weapons in the National League with two of his team’s three RBI in the loss. He’s now up to 38 on the season and on the MLB’s top-10 list.
He opened the scoring with an RBI single in the first before Lourdes Gurriel put the Blue Jays in front with a two-run home run in the second.
It was one of the only mistakes Peterson made in his outing as he allowed those two runs on three hits with a pair of strikeouts over five innings of work.
But coming off a short IL stint, the Mets and Rojas remained cautious with the 24-year-old southpaw and pulled him following the fifth.
Brach opened the sixth inning by walking the bases loaded before he was pulled for Hughes, who walked Jonathan Villar to force in a run.
After striking out Travis Shaw, Hughes allowed three-straight hits — two singles and a double — which gave Toronto a 7-1 lead.
The Mets would tack on a pair in the eighth, but it was another day of missed opportunities for a team that had scored 18 runs just two nights earlier. They went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position while leaving nine on-base.
