Still in control of their own destiny, the New York Mets appear to be doing everything they can to give it away in the final days of the 2024 season.
Familiar foe Rhys Hoskins’ first-inning grand slam off New York’s second-half ace, Sean Manaea, and one of the Mets’ sloppiest games in months featuring five walks, six stolen bases, two wild pitches, and a passed ball has led to an 8-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.
With four games remaining, the Mets (87-71) have lost two straight, with the National League Wild Card standings tightening to a dead heat with four games to play in the season. While they received a slight break with the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks losing yet again, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-0 on Friday.
The Braves have now moved into the No. 2 Wild Card seed with the tiebreaker over the Mets (they both have identical 87-71 records), while the Mets hold the tiebreaker over the 88-72 Diamondbacks for the third and final Wild Card spot.
Manaea’s dud was a rare event, considering just how good he had been during the second half of the season. Over his previous 16 starts dating back to July 2, he had a 2.83 ERA, going 7-2 with 107 strikeouts compared to 27 walks in 101.2 innings pitched.
But after allowing a single and two walks in the first, Hoskins jumped on a two-out, 2-2 sinker that sat in the middle of the zone and deposited it over the left-center-field fence.
Brice Turang, who singled off Manaea to lead off the game, doubled in the second inning to score Blake Perkins, putting Milwaukee up 5-0 after two.
Mark Vientos got the Mets on the board in the third with a two-run home run, his 27th of the season, but Milwaukee scored once in the fourth and sixth to regain a five-run advantage.
The Mets loaded the bases in the eighth before Harrison Bader drove in one run with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, the struggling JD Martinez got a break when his grounder to second was booted by Turang to bring in another run and bring New York within three.
That would be as close as they would get, though. Ex-Yankee and Met Gary Sanchez took Alex Young out deep to left field to lead off the bottom of the eighth to put the Brewers back up four and snuff out any other hopes of a comeback.
