NY Mets fall 4-3 in 10 innings as bullpen hold goes for nothing

The New York Mets lost 4-3 in 10 innings Saturday night in Anaheim. They rallied to tie it. Their bullpen was nearly flawless. None of it mattered.

Nolan McLean gave up 3 runs in 4 innings, and that gap proved too deep to fully escape. The damage came in waves — Jo Adell’s RBI single in the 1st put Anaheim up 1-0, and then a 4th-inning sequence unraveled things further. A wild pitch by McLean moved two runners into scoring position, and Vaughn Grissom followed with a 2-run single to make it 3-1. McLean finished with 6 strikeouts, but the 6 hits and 3 earned runs were too much weight for this offense to carry.

The Mets answered in the 7th. Mark Vientos led off with a double, Marcus Semien singled him to third, and Andy Ibáñez brought him home on a sac fly. Semien then stole second, and Tyrone Taylor lined a single to center to tie it at 3. The Mets had the bases loaded with 1 out when Sam Bachman came in and got Bo Bichette to ground into a force play and Juan Soto to strike out. Three men stranded. The 7th inning ended before it had to.

From there, the bullpen did everything right. Tobias Myers got 6 outs without allowing a run. Huascar Brazobán followed with 1.1 scoreless innings and a strikeout. Craig Kimbrel navigated a 9th with a runner on — intentionally walking Mike Trout with 2 outs, then inducing a force play to end it. Five innings of bullpen baseball, 1 run allowed total, and the Mets still couldn’t push one across.

The 10th didn’t require much. Austin Warren entered with a ghost runner on second and walked Jorge Soler, then gave up a line-drive single to Adell that loaded the bases. Austin Slater had already been removed for MJ Melendez in the 9th, with Carson Benge covering right. Josh Lowe and Vaughn Grissom both flew out to Benge to keep New York alive, but Oswald Peraza lined a single to center on the next pitch. Ballgame.

The Mets finished with 9 hits and 12 strikeouts. Ronny Mauricio went 1-for-3 with 2 punchouts. Francisco Alvarez went 1-for-5 and grounded into a double play in the 6th that killed the only real threat New York had in the middle innings. Brett Baty entered as a defensive sub and never saw a plate appearance.

At 11-22, this roster has a serious problem beyond any single loss. The bullpen keeps doing its job. The offense keeps leaving it on the field. Until those two things start pointing in the same direction, nights like this one are going to keep piling up.