It was a weekend to overlook for the Mets.
Sunday afternoon’s 9-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Citi Discipline marked the Mets’ most lopsided defeat of the 12 months and capped the primary collection through which they’ve been swept this season.
Tampa Bay as soon as once more took benefit of walks and capitalized on Mets miscues, whereas hard-throwing Rays starter Shane Baz dominated.
“They beat us in all aspects of the game,” outfielder Brandon Nimmo mentioned.
The Rays scored the sport’s first three runs within the second inning towards Mets starter Griffin Canning, regardless of hitting just one ball out of the infield.
After Canning walked the inning’s first two batters, Rays speedster José Caballero laid down a well-placed bunt. Third baseman Brett Baty initially stepped towards third base earlier than fielding the ball, permitting Caballero to succeed in and cargo the bases.
The Rays then scored on Kameron Misner’s RBI power out; a wild pitch by Canning; and Danny Jansen’s RBI single.
“Walks. They get a bunt down. We don’t make a play. Before you know it, we’re down three,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza mentioned. “We just didn’t play well.”
Canning was tagged for six earned runs in 4.1 innings. The proper-hander issued a season-high 5 walks, marking the third time in 5 begins he walked at the least 4 batters.
It was solely the second time this season — and the primary in 38 video games — {that a} Mets starter surrendered greater than 4 earned runs.
“I’m just falling behind guys, walking guys, probably shying away from contact too much,” mentioned Canning, who fell to 6-3. “It’s a good lineup, a hot team right now. You just can’t give them free bases.”
The Mets trailed 4-0 within the third when Pete Alonso got here up with the bases loaded and two outs. However Baz struck out Alonso with a excessive, 99-mph fastball to extinguish the scoring menace.
Alonso had reached base in 22 consecutive video games, however that streak got here to an finish Sunday because the slugger went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a double play.
The Mets completed 0-for-7 with runners in scoring place and stranded 12 baserunners.
“We made a few mistakes — defensive, pitching and hitting — but they played really well,” Nimmo mentioned. “Sometimes, you’re gonna run into that, where the other team’s playing really well and you’re not playing your best.”
Geared up with an overwhelming fastball, Baz recorded six strikeouts and restricted the Mets to a few hits over 6.2 innings.
The Rays put the ending touches on Sunday’s rout when 21-year-old phenom Junior Caminero drilled a three-run residence run off Ryne Stanek within the ninth.
Jared Younger, a Mets place participant, then got here in to pitch and recorded the ultimate out of the ninth. By then, many inside a sellout Father’s Day crowd of 42,804 had already left.
“You hate to get swept here at home, but you’ve got to move on,” Mendoza mentioned.
The Mets (45-27) had not been swept since a three-game collection in Seattle final August, nor had they misplaced a recreation by greater than six runs this season.
They entered the collection towards the Rays with a 27-7 report at residence — the very best begin in franchise historical past.
However Tampa Bay (39-32) received Friday night time’s collection opener, 7-5, behind a six-run sixth inning, then received Saturday’s recreation, 8-4, on the power of a five-run fourth. On Saturday, the Rays turned a pair of errors by Mets pitchers into 4 unearned runs.
“There’s 162 [games],” Mendoza mentioned. “You’re gonna go through stretches where this is gonna happen. Obviously, we have to play better. We didn’t execute, we didn’t play clean baseball, and they made us pay.”
The three-game shedding streak matches as a season-long for the Mets.
This one got here at an inopportune time, because the second-place Philadelphia Phillies swept the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend, reducing their deficit within the Nationwide League East behind the Mets to 2.5 video games.
“You try and take it for a learning moment,” Nimmo mentioned of the sweep. “People will look at this series and see if there’s a recipe on how to beat us, so I definitely think there’s something to learn from it, but at the same time you try to not make it bigger than it is. We’ve been very good to this point.”
The Mets will look to rebound throughout a six-game highway journey towards a pair of division rivals. They start a three-game collection in Atlanta on Tuesday, then go to Philadelphia for one more three-game set.
Initially Revealed: June 15, 2025 at 6:34 PM EDT
