The Mets bullpen absolutely squandered a gem from Sean Manaea on Friday night, blowing a solid start in a 4-2 loss to the Dodgers at Citi Field. It was a total gut punch to open the series, but honestly, that wasn’t even the biggest problem coming out of this one.
Manaea Masterclass Undone By The Bullpen
Sean Manaea was out there dealing against a stacked Dodgers lineup. He battled through leadoff baserunners in two of the first three innings, erasing a single in the first and then breezing past a double against the top of the order in the third. LA tied things with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but Manaea worked around two more runners stranded on the corners. And remember that wild play in the fifth? Shohei Ohtani got gunned down trying to stretch a double into a triple thanks to a perfect relay, keeping Manaea perfect that inning. Even with a Carson Benge bobble in right field that let Freddie Freeman advance on a single and an error in the sixth, Benge made up for it two batters later, throwing Freeman out at home trying to score on a sac fly. Manaea finished his day allowing just one run on six hits and two walks, striking out three over 6.0 innings. That’s a performance that should get you a win.
But then the bullpen showed up. Brooks Raley immediately let the Dodgers scratch across the go-ahead run on an Ohtani sacrifice fly. An inning later, A.J. Minter served up an insurance two-run homer to Kyle Tucker, making it a three-run ballgame. Just brutal to watch Manaea’s hard work vanish like that.
Offense Stalls As Soto’s Health Becomes The Real Scare
The Mets offense really couldn’t get much going against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki. Aside from Luis Robert Jr.’s towering 381-foot, 2-2 fastball blast to left,his fourth homer of the season and second in three games since coming off the IL,Sasaki held them to just four other baserunners while striking out nine over 6.0 innings. Crazy considering Sasaki had allowed 23 runs (22 earned) over his last six starts coming into this one. Francisco Alvarez did show some fight in the eighth against Evan Phillips, crushing his 14th homer of the season, a 108.9 mph, 401-foot shot. But they couldn’t rally against Tanner Scott in the ninth, and that was that.
Now, for the really bad news: Juan Soto was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth because of left calf soreness. This dude has been limited to DH duties since the All-Star Break, and he even sat out Wednesday’s finale in Milwaukee. Interim manager Andy Green said pregame that Soto was “ready to go,” but clearly that’s not the case. This is a massive blow, and honestly, the biggest concern from this series opener.
The Mets dropped the first game of the series to the Dodgers. They’ve got to hope Soto’s calf isn’t a long-term issue, and that the offense can wake up and the bullpen can get its act together before this series gets out of hand.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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