HOUSTON — Some might call Wednesday’s game between the Mets and the Houston Astros an adventure. Some might call it ugly. Really, there is no shortage of adjectives when trying to describe the Mets’ 10-8 loss to the defending World Series champs at Minute Maid Park.
The Mets (34-40) dropped the series, 2-1, and continued to sink deeper into this June hole they have dug themselves into (6-12 this month).
The go-ahead run came in the bottom of the fourth from Alex Bregman, who put the Astros (41-34) up 7-6 when he flared one into center field. But the big hit came from Yainer Diaz, who teed off on the first pitch he saw from Dominic Leone (1-3) — a middle-in fastball — and put it into the Crawford boxes to give Houston a 9-6 lead.
Pete Alonso’s 23rd home run of the year nearly tied the game for the Mets again in the sixth. Facing former Mets’ right-hander Rafael Montero, he crushed a 2-0 sinker. Alonso sent the ball 438 feet into the left-center seats, bringing the Mets back to within one. But the Mets failed to score again and Ryan Pressely retired the side in order in the ninth for his second save in a row and his 14th this season.
Another disastrous inning allowed the Astros to score an insurance run in the seventh.
Rookie left-hander Josh Walker was hit with a comebacker and left the game injured. Adam Ottavino couldn’t make a play at home. It wasn’t nearly the most interesting inning.
Things went downhill right from the start. It took nearly an hour to play two calamitous innings. The Mets loaded the bases three times and only capitalized once in that span. The Astros took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, then gave it up in the top of the second only to load the bases against Tylor Megill and leave them loaded in the bottom of the inning. There was a runner’s lane violation by Alonso in the first that was part of a kind-sorta double play. Megill and Christian Javier couldn’t seem to find the strike zone. There were 10 walks in 2 1/2 innings. Javier didn’t last long, getting pulled after allowing four earned runs over 2 1/3 innings on four hits, five walks and one hit batter.
Megill also lasted only 2 1/3. He exited with the game tied 4-4. Leone couldn’t hold his inherited runner on base, giving up a monstrous home run to Chas McCormick to put the Astros up 6-4 in the bottom of the third.
The Mets tied it at 6-6 in the top of the fourth when Daniel Vogelbach (3-for-5, three RBI, one double) sent a bases-loaded single through the infield gap to score two. The Astros had just gone to the bullpen to get the third out of the inning, but right-hander Phil Maton hit Jeff McNeil to load the bases and bring up Vogelbach.
The biggest takeaway from this game is still Megill.
He finished with five runs (four earned) on four hits with four walks. He struck out only two. The Mets may not have any other choice but to demote him to Triple-A Syracuse. He’s 6-5 with a 5.17 ERA.
It’s unfortunate since he looked as though he was turning a corner his last time out, but he has looked that way a few times this season and has yet to show that he can get past this dismal stretch. Instead, it looks as though he has regressed. The Mets are going to have to figure out why Megill and left-hander David Peterson have both taken steps back this season.