The Mets gathered their belongings and packed the gear for the trip to Colorado. The silence in the clubhouse was as thick as an evening fog. Their words offered optimism that their chase for a wild-card berth isn’t over, but the sober reality is that it will now take a miracle for the Mets to earn a spot in the postseason.
It may not be time to turn out the lights, but you can start to locate the switch. A 3-2 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday night has pushed the Mets four games out of the final wild-card spot with just 13 games to play. A three-game series at Coors Field followed by three more in Cincinnati have become must wins.
“We’ve had some tough times and good times this year,” Mets reliever Seth Lugo said. “We always bounce back and stay fighting. [Monday] we’ll come out fighting like we always do and keep moving forward.”
The Mets have been a resilient bunch all season. There is no question about that. They came back from 11 games under .500 to pump some life back into their season and make their September games meaningful. But their balloon filled with momentum was pierced Sunday night by the Dodgers, who rallied from a 2-1 deficit with a run in the eighth and another in the ninth.
The comeback came at the expense of the Mets best relievers, Justin Wilson and Seth Lugo. Wilson entered the game in the eighth for Mets starter Zack Wheeler, who had struck out nine while allowing just one run over seven innings. Wilson, who had pitched to a 1.40 ERA in his previous 25 ²/₃ innings, immediately got in trouble walking pinch-hitter Jedd Gyorko. It got worse when Gyorko then went to second on a balk and reached third on a wild pitch. With one out, Chris Taylor doubled to right-center, scoring Gyorko to tie the game.
“Anytime the leadoff guy gets on late in the game it hurts,” Wilson said.
Lugo came on to get the final out of the eighth as the Mets turned to their best arm out of the bullpen. Including the eighth, Lugo had a string of 14 ¹/₃ scoreless innings dating back to Aug. 17 and has emerged as Mickey Callaway’s go-to guy after high-priced closer Edwin Diaz lost his confidence and became unreliable.
After Lugo began the ninth by getting Gavin Lux to ground out, Enrique Hernandez doubled to left-center field. That forced an intentional walk to Cody Bellinger and it looked like the Mets might escape further damage when pinch-hitter Edwin Rios struck out. But Lugo couldn’t get past Gyorko again. Gyorko would single up the middle, scoring Hernandez with the game-winning run.
“I made my pitch and he found a hole,” Lugo said. “That’s where I was trying to go with it. That happens. That’s baseball.”
Lugo was credited with the victory on Saturday night when he struck out the side in the ninth inning of the Mets 3-0 victory. Sunday night, he took the loss, making him 6-4 on the season with a 2.82 ERA.
“They’ve been so good and we’ve relied on them so much, it’s tough,” Callaway said of Wilson and Lugo. “They’ve been pitching great.”
They’ll have to pitch better in Colorado than they did Sunday night, though Lugo said he’s not going to focus on the odds that are stacked against the Mets pulling off their miracle.
“Me personally, I’m going to focus on execution of each pitch from game to game. That’s as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
Maybe that’s the best approach, considering it’s going to take a mile-high miracle for the Mets to earn a wild-card berth now.
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