Mets 'turn the page' to Cardinals after 'tough' Rays sweep
Sunday's 7-6 loss in 10 innings at the Tampa Bay Rays leaves the Mets on a three-game skid entering a quick turnaround Monday with the St. Louis Cardinals.
"Tough one," said Carlos Mendoza. "Felt like we had opportunities and we just couldn't come through offensively. I thought our bullpen kept us in games. Guys battled. We've just got to turn the page and get ready for the Cardinals series now."
New York had Tampa Bay down to its last strike when Edwin Diaz hung a full-count slider over the inner half and allowed Randy Arozarena's game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.
"That's part of the game," said Diaz, who struck out Richie Palacios and induced Isaac Paredes' pop up before Arozarena's two-out homer. "Tomorrow's a new day. We flush it. Even if I was pitching good today, I would flush it, no matter what. So tomorrow's a new day and I'm coming tomorrow to get the save and help the team win."
The Mets left 13 men on base while posting a 4-for-16 line with runners in scoring position.
"It's frustrating," said Pete Alonso, whose 0-for-5 day at Tropicana Field included a bases-loaded double play to end the fourth inning. "It's frustrating, for sure, not being able to come through in situations. I need to be better. Need to be better.
"All of the work and stuff like that, preparing for the game -- I mean, no one really sees that, no one really cares about that. People care about performance. So it's just frustrating, not being able to come through."
After the Mets took the 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th inning, the Rays walked off the bottom half with Ben Rortvedt's leadoff walk, ghost runner Jose Caballero's stolen third base and Jonny DeLuca's triple off Jake Diekman that got past a diving Harrison Bader.
"There's nothing we can say," Omar Narvaez said, responding to Tampa Bay's seven steals. "We've just got to keep working."
