A ROYAL PAIN
Mets shoot selves in foot again with errors in sloppy loss to Kansas City
As their game finished Saturday afternoon, the Mets had bumbled their way to the second-most unearned runs in the majors.
Plenty of positive signs from their pitching staff remain, and their bats have inspired much more confidence over the past week. But a team that entered this season looking more athletic and more sure-handed has dropped games, in part, because it has dropped too many batted balls.
Another Mets error — this one from Starling Marte — opened the floodgates in a big fourth inning from the Royals, who took advantage of sloppy Mets play and pitching to even the series with an 11-7 win in front of 25,287 at a chilly, windy and occasionally rainy Citi Field.
The Mets (6-8) entered the fourth inning tied at 4-4 and proceeded to surrender four runs, including two unearned that swelled their season total to 15.
Sean Manaea allowed eight runs (six earned) on nine hits and three walks in 3 2/₃ innings for his first poor start as a Met.
“Falling behind guys, they really did some damage on my changeup,” said Manaea, who received little help behind him.
In that fourth, the Royals’ best strategy became using Mets outfielders’ gloves as backboards.
Bobby Witt Jr. lofted a high fly ball to right field, Marte camping under the ball and watching it glance off his glove.
By the time Marte picked it up and threw it in, Witt was on third base and scored three pitches later on a Nick Loftin single.
“That’s an easy play to make,” Marte said through interpreter Alan Suriel, declining to blame the wind. “There could be a tornado out there right now — it’s just a [ball] that needs to be caught. You have to secure the ball.”
Salvador Perez then smacked a deep drive to left-center that bounced off the glove of a leaping Brandon Nimmo and snuck over the fence.
Nimmo — playing center on a day Harrison Bader sat against righty Alec Marsh, who is notably worse against lefty hitters — made a nice effort to get to the ball and hit the wall hard, the ball volleying from his glove to the bottom of the railing that is just above the orange line, a two-run homer that made it 7-4.
The Royals added another in the inning, scored a run in the fifth keyed by a Witt triple and continued taking advantage of Mets sloppiness in the sixth.
Cole Sulser’s final pitch went for another walk — the Mets issued five bases on balls — that put runners on first and second.
Nelson Velazquez, who is not known for his speed, swiped third on an errant throw from Omar Narvaez. Brett Baty did well to stop the ball from going into left field but could not contort himself into a tag. Hunter Renfroe’s double then scored two as the rout continued.
The Royals became yet another team that could run at will against the Mets.
Kansas City stole three bases against Narvaez, making the Mets’ catching tandem 0-for-24 at throwing out runners this season.
“We’ve gotta get better,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of slowing opponents’ running games. “We’ve been talking about it. We’ll get to it.”
One, at least, was not Narvaez’s fault and became another example of Mets messiness.
In the third inning, Garrett Hampson, a speedy center fielder who had reached on a push bunt, appeared to be picked off by Manaea.
The Mets lefty threw to Pete Alonso, Hampson caught in between the bases, but Alonso threw wildly to Francisco Lindor at second base. Lindor had to lunge for the ball, catching it with his back to Hampson.
Hampson deked to his right and then veered to the inside of the bag, Lindor trying to apply a tag that never came. Hampson successfully eluded Lindor on a play that belonged more on a basketball court.
The Mets climbed back into the game mostly thanks to Alonso, who homered twice and drove in three. Marte added an eighth-inning homer that somewhat atoned for his drop, and DJ Stewart stayed hot with an RBI double.
But the Mets’ unforced errors and pitching mistakes created too big a hole for their bats to escape.
“We’re going to continue to battle,” Marte said. “It doesn’t matter how many runs the other team scores. We know we’re playing a good team, but at the same time they know they’re playing a team that’s not going to give up.”