Bullpen falters again

The Mets fell to the Twins 8-4 in what was a well-pitched game by David Peterson with some strong defensive work behind him, but a disastrous game for the bullpen, who opened up a deficit too great for the Mets to overcome.

The Mets got on the board first in this contest, thanks to a leadoff home run by Brandon Nimmo off Kenta Maeda—his 23rd of the season. Jeff McNeil then singled and with two outs, stole second base to advance into scoring position, and scored on a Daniel Vogelbach RBI single to give the Mets an early 2-0 lead. The Twins got the first two runners on in the bottom of the first via a leadoff hit by pitch and a single, but David Peterson bounced back to strike out the next three batters he faced to escape the jam.

The Twins would get those two runs back the following inning, however. With one out, Ryan Jeffers laced a well-placed single between first and second that Pete Alonso was able to make a diving stop on in order to keep the ball in the infield, but was unable to come up with a play. Peterson then struck out Matt Wallner for his fifth strikeout of the game, but Willi Castro doubled and then Donovan Solano singled to tie the game up at two runs apiece.

The Twins took the lead off Peterson in the third on a two-out Jordan Luplow double followed by a Kyle Farmer single. Farmer was then caught stealing to end the inning and the game would remain a one-run affair until the seventh in part thanks to the defensive work of Omar Narváez and Francisco Alvarez, who erased a combined three Twins baserunners between them.

The turning point of the game came in the seventh when Drew Smith came in the game in relief of David Peterson and loaded the bases on a single and two walks and then surrendered the decisive blow—a pinch-hit, bases-clearing triple by Max Kepler that put the Twins ahead 6-2. Smith was then pulled from the game in favor of Jeff Brigham, who allowed another hit to extend the Twins’ lead to 7-2 and close the book on an unsightly final pitching line for Smith.

The Mets clawed two runs back in the top of the eighth on a pair of solo home runs by the big mashers Pete Alonso and DJ Stewart. But, the Twins added a solo shot of their own in the bottom of the frame by Willi Castro off Brigham to once again open up a four-run lead. The Mets then went down in order against Dylan Floro in the ninth to seal the series victory for the Twins.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Daniel Vogelbach, +6.6% WPA
Big Mets loser: Drew Smith, -17.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: -25.8% WPA
Mets hitters: -24.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo’s leadoff solo homer, +10.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Donovan Solano’s game-tying single in the second, -17.9%