FLUSHING - Extra innings wield a double-edged sword. Pull one out, especially at home, and the feeling of exhileration trumps any residual ramifications. Face of the wrath of the opposite side of the blade and those ramifications are amplified.
In a span of five games, the Mets have been involved in three contests that demanded additional frames to decided the outcome. A day after Jeff McNeil walked us off with a two-run homer in the 10th, we felt the wrath of the opposite side of the blade.
Bowing to the Diamondbacks, 2-1, in 10 offers the immediate sting of defeat. But, all these extended games has been extremely taxing on the entire staff. Starters being squeeze for every ounce they have to spare the guys in the pen, who have surpassed exhaustion.
Such was plight on Wednesday. Got a great start from Steven Matz, who has continued to inch into our good graces through his grit, which was evident over seven quality innings. But, with available live arms sparse beyond the right field fence, we had to lean on Robert Gsellman to go deeper than ideal, using 37 pitches over 1 2/3 innings.
Faced with a crossroads between Gsellman getting one more batter and facing Christian Walker with two outs in the 10th, we gambled on left-hander Justin Wilson trying to retire the righty stick for the final out.
Gamble lost.
Walker delivered an RBI single that proved decisive.
Can't hang the blame on the pitchers. Combined two runs allowed is actually more than I could ask for. If you desire to point the finger, aim toward the top of the batting order. Jeff McNeil, Amed Rosario and Michael Conforto combined to leave a dozen runners on base when all we need was perhaps one timely hit.
The Mets trailed, 1-0, heading into the bottom of the seventh before Yoenis Cespedes led off with a double, Dom Smith singled and Rene Rivera walked to load the bases with no outs.
Cespedes aggravated a hamstring while pulling into second, exiting for Chris Taylor (Cespedes is listed a day-to-day), who scored when Brandon Nimmo singled to knot the game.
However, a pop up by pinch-hitter Pete Alonso was backed by consecutive strikeouts of McNeil and Rosario to waste what should have been a bigger inning.
Opportunity - and game - lost.
This crew needs a day off...and there are none in sight. In fact, there's absolutely no rest for the weary. We wrap up the series with D-Backs on Thursay before Atlanta drops in for a weeked set. Memorial Day - unthinkably - is the next off day. It can't get here fast enough.
