So typically all through his profession in Queens, the Mets turned to José Buttó to pitch an essential inning or to work out of a jam.
However in a second of MLB surrealism, Buttó took the mound towards the Mets, not for them, throughout an important second Friday night time at Citi Area.
Traded to the Giants simply two days earlier, Buttó entered within the eighth inning with runners on the corners, one out and San Francisco main by a run.
Pete Alonso greeted his former teammate with a game-tying sacrifice fly, denying Buttó the possibility to drag off an escape act.
Nevertheless it was one other former Met who delivered the knockout punch.
Dominic Smith’s go-ahead RBI single towards nearer Edwin Diaz within the tenth proved to be the distinction within the Mets’ 4-3 loss.
Smith entered as a pinch-hitter with automated runner Willy Adames at third base, one out and the sport tied, 3-3. With the infield in, Smith lined a excessive, 98-mph fastball again up the center for the game-winning hit.
Giants reliever Randy Rodriguez, who was an All-Star this season, then hurled a scoreless backside of the tenth, putting out Ronny Mauricio to finish the sport.
It was the fourth straight loss for the Mets, who had been swept this week in San Diego.
Buttó was traded to the Giants on Wednesday within the deal that despatched fellow right-handed reliever Tyler Rogers to the Mets.
That commerce was a part of a midseason bullpen overhaul wherein the Mets additionally acquired right-hander Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals and left-hander Gregory Soto from the Baltimore Orioles.
In his Mets debut, Helsley tossed a scoreless ninth inning on Friday, working round two hits to strike out three.
The Mets trailed, 3-0, going into the underside of the seventh, having been dominated to that time by Giants ace Robbie Ray. Ray outdueled Mets starter David Peterson, who held the Giants to 2 runs over six innings and struck out 4.
However Alonso led off the seventh with a 414-foot solo house run towards Ray, slicing the Mets’ deficit to 3-1.
That was the one run the Mets managed towards Ray, who struck out six over seven innings.
However the Giants’ bullpen weakened this week, with San Francisco dealing Rogers to the Mets and nearer Camilo Doval to the Yankees.
With out that high-leverage duo, the Giants turned to former Mets left-hander Joey Lucchesi within the eighth.
Lucchesi issued a stroll and two hits, together with an RBI single by Juan Soto that caromed off of the reliever’s foot and into middle subject.
That arrange the showdown between Alonso and Buttó, who signed with the Mets as a world free agent in 2017 and made his MLB debut with them in 2022.
Friday additionally marked the Mets debut of middle fielder Cedric Mullins, whom the Mets acquired Thursday in a commerce with Baltimore.
Mullins didn’t begin, as journey points delayed his arrival at Citi Area till a number of hours earlier than the sport, however he entered within the ninth inning as a pinch-hitter and popped out.
With the loss, the Mets fell into second place within the Nationwide League East and are a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
The three-game sequence towards the Giants continues Saturday afternoon, with Kodai Senga (7-3, 2.00 ERA) set to start out for the Mets and Kai-Wei Teng slated for his season debut with San Francisco.
Initially Printed: August 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM EDT
