Carlos Mendoza's early call to bullpen fails as offense dries up in loss to Guardians

NEW YORK — For nearly two months, the Mets have been struggling to get length from their starting pitchers.

David Peterson has been the team's lone arm to pitch at least six innings since the first week in June.

On Tuesday night, the Mets had an ideal opportunity to receive some relief from Clay Holmes, but Carlos Mendoza opted to turn to his newfound strength in a tie game in the sixth.

With Holmes pulled after 75 pitches in a tie game, Tyler Rogers gave up the lead on three soft singles and the Mets fell 3-2, to the Guardians in front of 39,895 fans at Citi Field. The Mets' offense did not help the cause. They struck for a run in each of the first two innings but could then only manage two hits and a walk after the third inning.

"We were set up bullpen wise there, third time through," Mendoza said. "(Holmes) was really good the first time through the lineup and then we saw the second time that fourth inning, they gave him a hard time, so I knew I was going to be aggressive there."

It all amounted to the Mets' third straight loss as they dropped to 63-51 and moved 2.5 games back of the Phillies inside the National League East. Since matching their season-best seven-game win streak, the Mets have now dropped seven of their last eight games to erase that momentum.

"I've been around long enough to know that these kind of streaks happen," Nimmo said. "The best way to get our of them is have a short-term memory, come back tomorrow and just try and compete and grind and try and win tomorrow."

Clay Holmes' successful run cut off

It was one of Clay Holmes' best starts since the All-Star break, but the Mets' 2-0 advantage was scratched out in his lone rough inning in the top of the fourth.

The Mets veteran right-hander gave up a leadoff single to Steven Kwan and a walk to Daniel Schneeman. A ground ball moved both of those runners into scoring position and Kyle Manzardo looped in an RBI single.

Then, after another ground ball, Gabriel Arias tagged an opposite-field RBI single into right field to make it 2-2.

"I got a couple of ground balls, kind of weakly hit and sometimes a team like that that's really good with the bat-to-ball skills, they're able to just manufacture some runs there," Holmes said.

Otherwise, Holmes pitched four perfect frames with six strikeouts, relying on his sinker to produce seven of his outs on the ground. It was an encouraging bounce-back effort after he gave up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks across a season low 3⅔ in his previous start against the Pades.

"Just focusing on the sinker down. The outing in San Diego, I feel like the stuff was good, things were just up," Holmes said. "Sometimes it's just some intent. Me and (Francisco Alvarez) kind of got together and it's like, 'Hey, let's just miss the sinker down.' He kind of gave me a lower target and it was just very intentional going into that."

Carlos Mendoza's early call to the bullpen

Mendoza made the call to the bullpen after a perfect fifth inning, calling upon Gregory Soto to face the middle of the Guardians' lineup.

Holmes, who has now thrown 122⅓ innings — 52⅓ more than his career high — understood the decision, citing the strength of the team's bullpen and the need to stay fresh down the stretch in a playoff chase.

"When you're in a pennant race and you have a bullpen like we do and games are really close, there's going to be some of those decisions where everything's not really in your control," Holmes said. "He made the decision what he thought was best and best for the team and best for the win."

Soto did his job, stranding Schneeman, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth inning and moved to third on a pair of ground outs, with a fly ball to center field.

Rogers was not as lucky. After recording two quick outs, C.J. Kayfus chopped a single through the left side of the infield and Brayan Rocchio blooped in a hit into left field off the end of his bat. Kwan gave the Guardians a 3-2 advantage with an RBI single up the middle.

Brooks Raley and Ryan Helsley did not allow a run in the eighth or ninth, but the Mets could not mount a response.

Mets offense goes cold

Before the game, Mendoza affirmed that the center field position would not be a platoon. The recently-acquired Cedric Mullins would be receiving the lion's share of the reps in the heart of the outfield.

But for Tuesday's contest, Mendoza strayed from that formula, inserting Tyrone Taylor against Guardians southpaw Logan Allen.

The move worked in the second inning. After Mark Vientos knocked a leadoff double, Tyrone Taylor lofted an RBI single into left field.

The only problem was the Mets' offense turned off from there. The Mets had a great opportunity to tack on more in the second inning but Francisco Lindor laced a sharp ground ball behind second base that was gloved by Guardians second baseman Brayan Rocchio and flipped to Gabriel Arias for a pristine double play.

"This is a game of small margins and unfortunately that's the kind of the way these games are decided at the major league level," Nimmo said. "Hat's off to them, that was a heck of play. We know that we're just one hit away from really breaking things open."

After Juan Soto walked against Logan Allen with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Mets recorded 14 straight outs to end the game.

"Other than the Soto walk, we didn't create anything. We didn't hit many balls hard," Mendoza said. "Lindor hit a few of them, but we just didn't put anything together. They got us today and we got to turn the page obviously because that was not good today."

Pete Alonso, one home run shy of matching Darryl Strawberry's Mets home run record, tacked on the only other Mets run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning after Lindor and Soto both walked.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Carlos Mendoza's call to bullpen fails as offense dries in loss