Yesterday, the New York Yankees were trounced by the Houston Astros 7-1, bringing their post-All-Star Break record to 9-13. Soon after that, the Mets squandered a 5-0 lead to the Milwaukee Brewers on their way to a 7-6 loss, their 11th in their last 12 games.
The Mets got off to a roaring start yesterday, scoring five runs in the first four innings of the game to go ahead 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning. However, the Brewers bounced back with five combined runs in the fourth and fifth innings, cutting the Mets’ lead to 6-5.
“Got some long ABs, there,” said Mets pitcher Sean Manaea, who gave up three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning before being replaced in the fifth, after the game. “I think guys just started seeing some things and just found the stuff off. [They] made me work. They capitalized on some mistakes and just got some timely hits.”
Despite the rough outing from Manaea, the Mets still carried a one-run lead into the eighth inning. Unfortunately for the Amazins, an RBI single from Brewers shortstop Joey Ortiz tied things up at 6-6.
“We haven’t played well for quite a bit, now,” said manager Carlos Mendoza in a postgame interview. “You know, that’s what happens. We can’t be looking at the standings. We got to start getting the job done, [it’s] that simple. We can sit and start looking back; there’s no looking back. Like I said, we got to get the job done.”
After calling in closer Edwin Diaz to secure the tie and force extra innings, he gave up a game-winning home run on his fifth pitch of the day, securing the Mets’ seventh-straight loss.
“I mean, they continue to put together some really good at-bats,” Mendoza explained. “I feel like we were in position to win that game once you get to the eighth, and you got two big boys ready to go there… Then, a breaking ball down and in, and he was able to hit it out of the ballpark.”
Unlike the Mets, the Yankees never really made their loss to the Astros close. Ace pitcher Max Fried was shelled for eight hits and four earned runs through the first five innings of the game to put Houston ahead 4-0.
“I mean, felt like my command today was pretty good,” Fried said after the loss. “But, you go through spells sometimes. To be honest, I just have to be better. I just got to be better at locating, being able to throw, and get more ground balls, and haven’t been able to do it.”
The Yanks inched closer to Houston with a seventh-inning RBI sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-1. However, the Astros scored three more runs in the ninth inning to put the game out of reach.
“We got to be able to muster more than that,” said manager Aaron Boone while speaking to members of the media after the game. “Felt like we had some good matchups there and just couldn’t punch through… I don’t think we were overly aggressive, or the other way, either. I thought the zone was a little all over the place, but at the end of the day, we just got to be able to create some traffic, whether that’s through swinging the bats or our patience. We just weren’t able to do it today.”
Mendoza and Boone are not going to let these losses linger in their minds. The best thing they can do is get prepared for their next games, so that they can both start stringing together some wins.
“It’s hard to describe. Tough. Frustrating. But we’ve got to turn the page. We’ve got to keep going,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got to find a way to start getting the victory here. That wasn’t a good showing there. They pretty much outplayed us… We’re all very frustrated, but you got to keep going. We got to keep going. Nobody said it was going to be easy.”
“We’re in a position right now where we’re in control of things,” Boone concluded. “We’re in a playoff spot, technically, right now, and I believe we have the people to get it done. We got to play consistent baseball, period.”
The Yankees are in action again tonight at 7:05 p.m. EDT against the Minnesota Twins. Meanwhile, the Mets are off today but will take on the Atlanta Braves tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. EDT.
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