How a miserable 10th inning encapsulated Mets' regretful 0-4 start to 2024

NEW YORK — A win could never seem so close, yet so far for the Mets four games into the season.

After nine scoreless innings against the Tigers on Monday night, a few things had broken right. Sean Manaea had delivered the best start of the season for the Mets with six scoreless innings with one hit. He was aided by a strong defensive play from Brandon Nimmo to keep the Tigers off the board.

But the Mets offense's slow start was extended by a day and one calamitous 10th inning unraveled the Mets' hope of scoring their first win of the season as the Mets fell, 5-0, to the Tigers in the series opener in front of 16,853 fans on Monday night at Citi Field.

"At some point throughout the course of the year, you're going to go through stretches like this and it happened to be the first four games of the season," Carlos Mendoza said. "It's one of those where you try to keep things simple, control the things you can control and just go out there and compete."

After a 1-2-3 inning by Edwin Diaz in the top of the ninth, Michael Tonkin came on and recorded the first out on a ground ball as the automatic runner scampered to third base. But in the next at-bat, a sinker got away from Tonkin and hit Canha.

Then, a bouncing ball to the right side glanced off the heel of Joey Wendle's glove and the go-ahead run scored. A potential double-play ball up the middle was deflected by Tonkin. Then, the game was broken open with a sacrifice fly from Javier Baez and a three-run home run from Carson Kelly.

"I tried to turn a ball that wasn't a two ball into a two ball and just didn't secure it," Wendle said of his error. "Tried to do it a little too fast, took an aggressive line to it and I obviously booted it. I have to get at least one out there, obviously. There's no excuse for that and it cost us in a big way."

The loss moved the Mets to 0-4 for the first time since the 2005 season when they dropped their first five games. The Mets are one of only three teams in Major League Baseball who have yet to win a game.

Mets offense still scuffling

The Mets offense carried just as much blame as the antagonists in the top of the 10th inning.

After only knocking one hit on Opening Day and a pair of one-run performances in the season-opening sweep at the hands of the Brewers over the weekend, the Mets were shut out for the first time in 2024.

They scattered five hits across the 10 innings on Monday. The top of the lineup, led by Brandon Nimmo, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, finished the night 0-for-11, and the team never had a baserunner reach as far as third base.

Lindor and Nimmo are both 1-for-16 to start the seasons, conflating the Mets' offensive woes.

"When it comes to overall what's happening, I just feel like we haven't found our footing," Lindor said. "Everybody shows up early, has batting practice, studies, we're well-prepared. The coaching staff is preparing us. We know what we have to do, we just haven't executed."

In the opening inning on Monday, they had Tigers starter Reese Olson on the ropes. Nimmo was hit by a pitch in the first at-bat and Francisco Lindor walked, but Alonso popped up to first base and Francisco Alvarez grounded into a double play.

Starling Marte contributed two of the Mets' four hits in the first eight innings. Marte led off the seventh inning with a single but the Mets followed with a pair of fly outs and a strikeout by Harrison Bader.

Alvarez, who has been one of the bright spots in the early going, added a double in the top of the sixth but was left stranded. In the top of the 10th with the automatic runner, Wendle, Nimmo and Lindor flew out in order.

"Yeah, chasing a lot, expanding, especially we're passive early in counts and then chasing out of the strike zone," Mendoza said. "A lot of empty at-bats, not creating much traffic there. Gotta get better there."

Sean Manaea's gem wasted

For a Mets pitching staff missing several key pieces and a lineup yet to find its grove, Manaea provided a valuable source of consistency on Monday night.

In his Mets debut, Manaea provided one of the season's limited bright spots. The left-hander carried a no-hitter into the top of the sixth inning and before Riley Greene broke it up with a single into left field with a runner on second base with two outs in the frame.

Nimmo helped back up his starter, rifling a throw from shallow left field to Alvarez to home plate to tag out Carson Kelly for the final out of the frame. Manaea finished with the one hit allowed across six innings with eight strikeouts and two walks allowed.

"I pretty much threw all my pitches for strikes," Manaea said. "I was getting ahead of guys, tempo. Yeah, all of those things."

Manaea was the first Mets starter of the season to notch a quality start despite picking up a no-decision.

"The fastball was really good. The way he attacked hitters. He had a lot of swings and misses on his fastball," Mendoza said. "The cutter was good, changeup was good, I thought he threw some sliders. Overall, it was a really, really good outing for him."

State of the Mets rotation

Before the game, the Mets received the news that Tylor Megill had been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain. The bullpen had been tagged with Yohan Ramirez's suspension, which was reduced to two games upon appeal.

Megill's absence provides a major first challenge for Mendoza. The Mets called up right-hander Reid Garrett on Monday to fill in Megill's spot on the roster.

However, some of the Mets' top options will now be unavailable unless there's an injury somewhere else. If a player is optioned to the minor leagues during spring training, they are not available to be called up until April 12. That means Jose Butto or Joey Lucchesi cannot be called upon immediately.

"It's always concerning when we’re down two," Mendoza said. "We’ve been talking about our depth and here we are, continuing to get tested. Obviously we’ve got some young arm in Triple-A, and we’ve got options, but I do feel good about our depth and they’re gonna get an opportunity here pretty soon."

The Mets might have to lean heavily on their bullpen in the short term, with Tonkin and Ramirez - once he's back from suspension - being valuable innings-eaters.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Collapse in 10th inning capsulates rough start to 2024