With Edwin Diaz serving a suspension and Drew Smith likely needing Tommy John surgery, the Mets were left to get big outs on Saturday from Reed Garrett and Jake Diekman while holding a 6-4 eighth-inning lead over the Astros.
But neither delivered and it cost the Mets the game.
The two combined for four walks, a wild pitch and a bases-loaded single to surrender three runs and the lead en route to a 9-6 loss to Houston.
“Four walks in the eighth inning they’ll make you pay with that kind of offense,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. “Those guys [Garrett and Diekman] have gotten big outs for us in the past and they’ll continue to but they didn’t today.”
Garrett was tasked with the most crucial at-bats of the game, including facing Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman with the bases loaded.
After walking pinch-hitter Trey Cabbage, Garret had Altuve in a 1-1 count when he threw a sweeper in the dirt that got by Francisco Alvarez and allowed a run to score. He proceeded to walk Altuve, which brought Bregman to the plate.
Garrett had Bregman in a 0-2 count but the Astros third baseman worked the count full before finally getting the best of the Mets reliever and laced a two-RBI single into right field to give the Astros a 7-6 lead.
“Obviously want some of [those pitches] back,” Garrett said after the game. “I didn’t execute to the best of my abilities. I got to the point where I was competing with everything I had tonight, just didn’t fall my way. Got ahead but couldn’t put it away. It stinks. I challenged him and he put a good swing on a good fastball.”
Garrett threw a total of 18 pitches against three batters, but just seven of those were strikes.
“You’re not going to have your best stuff every time out,” he said. “It’s about how you do when you don’t have it. The crispness of my stuff was good, I just had no command. I didn’t execute my job in the end, but if I get put in that situation again I have the stuff to get out of it.”
While it did not work out on Saturday, Mendoza continues to have faith in the arms he has in the bullpen as he navigates the remaining games until Diaz returns.
“It’s part of where we’re at right now,” Mendoza said. “They stepped up [Friday] but didn’t today. We’re gonna keep mixing and matching. Guys are gonna need to get big outs for us while we’re playing a man short. At the end of the day, they need to come in and get three outs. That’s the mentality and they’ll be ready to go.”
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