This Week in Mets: New York swept away by Seattle to close long road trip (2024)

“He knew by now that hate would never come to him as easily as despair, or the feeling of no feeling.”
—“The Fraud,” Zadie Smith

The New York Mets had not visited Seattle since 2017. They probably never want to come back.

The Mariners completed their three-game dissection of New York with a 12-1 romp on Sunday. The only good news for the Mets was that Jeff McNeil’s sixth-inning solo homer spared them the indignity of being shut out in a three-game series for the first time in their history.

As is, Seattle outscored the Mets 22-1 over three days at T-Mobile Park.

“They were just better than us in pretty much every area,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “They outplayed us the whole series.”

“They played better defense, they ran the bases better, they hit better than us, they outpitched us,” Francisco Lindor said. “They played better baseball than us.”

Most of the blame for this weekend falls, naturally, on that offense. Lindor had five hits and McNeil three; the rest of the club combined for nine. Brandon Nimmo went hitless. Pete Alonso went hitless with six strikeouts.

NYM 1
SEA 12
Final

The Mets would rather not come back here anytime soon.

They're 61-57.

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— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) August 12, 2024

However, the offense was not the only problem over the weekend. New York’s defense, much improved since the start of the season, got sloppy on Sunday. In the fifth inning, Lindor couldn’t make a play on Randy Arozarena’s softly hit two-out groundball. It was tough enough that a run scored on the play; it was tougher when two more came home a pitch later on a Cal Raleigh homer.

“I had to close it for (Luis Severino),” Lindor said of the play, lamenting the angle he took to get the ball out of his glove. “It would have been 1-0 instead of 4-0.”

In the sixth, McNeil tracked down Victor Robles’ grounder up the middle but instead of eating it, fired wildly to first. The ball skipped past Alonso and into the dugout, allowing everyone to move up an extra base. That one was also followed two batters later by a Raleigh homer.

New York’s pitching staff couldn’t meet the challenge of matching Seattle’s. Sean Manaea was worked around on Saturday, requiring 85 pitches for nine outs. Severino served up that first-pitch Raleigh homer on Sunday, and he’s allowed 15 runs in his past three starts.

“When we’re not hitting, we have to keep these games close,” Severino said.

The bullpen didn’t help matters Sunday. Ryne Stanek and Adam Ottavino combined to give up a six-spot in the sixth inning.

Those flaws stood out all the more juxtaposed against Seattle’s sparkling play. The Mariners’ starters allowed that lone run in 19 innings, with 21 strikeouts to just four walks. They made several highlight-reel plays in the field, including as good a double play as has been turned against the Mets this season on Saturday night. Seattle, all weekend, looked like the team capable of advancing come October.

Fortunately for the Mets, this long sojourn west is over, with an off-day Monday to lick their wounds. They started the road trip a half-game out of the wild card; despite a 4-6 mark, they end it a half-game out of the wild card.

“I don’t care how far or close we are,” Severino said. “We need to keep going. We need to win games.”

New York’s upcoming homestand is nine games long, and it starts with a pair of last-place teams in the A’s and Marlins.

“We’ve still got a lot of meaningful games ahead of us,” Mendoza said. “Reset, regroup, and be ready Tuesday.”

The exposition

The Mets were swept by the Mariners. They’re 61-57, a half-game behind Atlanta for the third wild card in the National League.

The Athletics took two of three from the Blue Jays in Toronto over the weekend. Oakland is 50-69, including 13-8 since the All-Star break.

The Marlins finally held on to a lead against the Padres, salvaging the finale of their three-game set on Sunday. Miami had lost three consecutive extra-inning games before that victory (which appeared headed for extras before a review overturned a tying home run). The Marlins are 44-75.

The pitching possibles

v. Oakland

RHP Paul Blackburn (5-2, 3.86 ERA) v. RHP Ross Stripling (2-11, 5.72 ERA)
LHP David Peterson (6-1, 3.34) v. RHP Mitch Spence (7-8, 4.33)
LHP Jose Quintana (6-8, 4.10) v. RHP Joey Estes (5-4, 4.70)

v. Miami

LHP Sean Manaea (8-5, 3.44) v. RHP Edward Cabrera (2-3, 5.20)
RHP Luis Severino (7-6, 4.17) v. RHP Roddery Muñoz (2-6, 5.67)
RHP Paul Blackburn v. RHP Max Meyer (3-2, 5.20)

Injury updates

Red = 60-day IL
Orange = 15-day IL
Blue = 10-day IL

• Starling Marte went 0-for-2 with a walk in six innings for Double-A Binghamton on Sunday. The team is off Monday and Marte is slated to play again on Tuesday. The Mets want to see Marte play at least seven innings in the field on back-to-back days before activating him.
• Sean Reid-Foley’s scheduled rehab appearance with Syracuse was rained out. He’s now slated to pitch at least an inning on Tuesday. As I reported over the weekend, the Mets want Reid-Foley to rein in his issue with walks and show he can pitch multiple innings before they activate him.
• Dedniel Núñez threw a bullpen session Sunday. He’s scheduled for another one on Tuesday and could make a rehab appearance after that.
• Christian Scott is “symptom-free” in his elbow, Mendoza said, but he has to rebuild strength in his arm before beginning a throwing program.
• Mark Vientos was a late scratch on Sunday with left ankle soreness. Vientos said the ankle has been sore since the last homestand, but that he should be ready to go on Tuesday.

The wild-card schedule

San Diego (66-53): PIT³, at COL³
Arizona (66-53): COL³, at TB³
Atlanta (61-56): at SF⁴, at LAA³
St. Louis (60-58): at CIN³, LAD³
San Francisco (61-59): ATL⁴, at OAK²

Minor-league schedule

Triple-A: Syracuse at Rochester (Washington)
Double-A: Binghamton v. Portland (Boston)
High-A: Brooklyn at Wilmington (Washington)
Low-A: St. Lucie at Daytona (Cincinnati)

Last week in Mets

• Brandon Nimmo is searching
• How the bullpen may shake out over the next couple of weeks
• The offense got off to a rough start in Seattle — and it got worse
• What kind of season is Pete Alonso having?
• Two decades after his debut, David Wright reflects on early lessons
• Why is Robinson Canó playing in the Mexican League?
• Takeaways from the first half of the road trip
• Our latest Mets mailbag looks at the futures of Alonso, Brandon Sproat and Jose Buttó
• TWIM: Resetting the wild-card race

A note on the epigraph

After really liking “White Teeth,” I’ve been ambivalent about the other Smith novels I’ve read, including “NW” and “Swing Time.” It could be an issue with timing. “NW” I read during spring training, which is never a good time to read a novel because I don’t sit with it consistently enough to remember everything going on. And “The Fraud” I read over about six weeks while on parental leave, which let me tell you is decidedly not prime reading time.

Trivia time

In the 1973 World Series against Oakland, Tug McGraw memorably pitched six innings out of the bullpen in Game 2, keeping the Mets alive after initially blowing a save in the ninth. When McGraw ran out of gas in the 12th, which pitcher earned the save (but not another start later in the series) for New York?

(I’ll reply to the correct answer in the comments.)

(Photo of Francisco Lindor: Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)

Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton