Mets' comeback bid dies on the warning track this time in 10-inning loss to Pirates
The Mets' Francisco Lindor is called out at home plate in the 10th inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
On Saturday, extra innings brought the Mets the heroics they desperately were missing in 2025 — a walk-off three-run homer by Luis Robert Jr. in the 11th.
On Sunday, they couldn’t unearth that same knack for the clutch in another extra-innings affair: a 4-3 loss to the Pirates in 10 innings in front of 36,940 at Citi Field.
With the score tied at 2-2 and ghost runner Bryan Reynolds on second in the top of the 10th, Mets reliever Richard Lovelady surrendered the go-ahead run on Ryan O’Hearn’s leadoff single. Lovelady seemingly escaped trouble with a 6-4-3 double play but then issued back-to-back walks before Henry Davis’ RBI single made it 4-2.
With none out and first and second in the bottom of the inning, Juan Soto cut the Mets' deficit to 4-3 with an RBI double into the left-centerfield gap, but potential tying run Francisco Lindor was thrown out at home for the first out after a questionable send by third-base coach Tim Leiper.
Bo Bichette — who went 0-for-5 to drop to 1-for-14 and heard boos after a seventh-inning strikeout — grounded out to short, with Soto taking third. That was followed by a 348-foot flyout to the rightfield warning track by Jorge Polanco to end the game.
“Coming into the series, this is a team we targeted that we were going to be aggressive, and they executed,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Leiper’s decision, which he was OK with. “You got to give them credit. They executed. Especially with having Lindor, and he had a hell of a jump off the bat.”
Lindor was not surprised by the send and echoed Mendoza’s message.
“We have talked about being aggressive,” Lindor said. “I felt like as soon as the ball was hit . . . my mindset was going to score. I think I would have scored. I took a little bad of a route. But I'm on board with Leip sending me there because we have talked about being aggressive, and he made the right call.”
The Mets (2-1) opted for Lovelady instead of Brooks Raley, who threw 11 pitches Saturday, or Devin Williams, who threw 19 Saturday. Mendoza said both were unavailable, noting that Raley is not going to pitch on back-to-back days to start the season and that Williams had warmed up to pitch on Thursday. Lovelady threw 21 pitches Saturday.
Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless ninth, stranding runners on first and second as Bichette started an inning-ending 5-4 forceout. But Marcus Semien, Carson Benge and pinch hitter Jared Young went down in order in the bottom half.
Mendoza also used Sean Manaea, who will be in the bullpen through at least two turns of the Mets’ rotation. He made his season debut in the seventh, entering with two outs and none on. He threw only 29 pitches in 1 1/3 scoreless innings, escaping the eighth unscathed after two two-out walks.
The lefthander, who averaged only 88.6 mph on his four-seam fastball in spring training, threw eight four-seamers that averaged 88.7 mph Sunday. He averaged 91.7 mph on his four-seamer last season, in which he dealt with a right oblique strain and a loose body in his elbow, and insisted he is healthy and confident that his velocity will return.
Manaea was supposed to pitch in a piggyback role out of the bullpen, but Sunday’s short outing did not reflect that. Mendoza said his low pitch count, unless it happens more frequently, “will not affect him if we need him to make a start here soon.” But Manaea, who learned Saturday that he would be pitching Sunday, acknowledged that his role is “a little bit” different from what he envisioned when he learned he would be starting the season in the bullpen.
“But at the end of the day, I'm just going to pitch when they need me to,” Manaea said. “And whatever that case may be, I’ll be ready.”
Nolan McLean didn’t deliver an A-plus start for the Mets but ultimately was effective in five innings, allowing two runs, four hits and two walks, hitting a batter and striking out eight.
McLean was wild early, issuing two consecutive walks to start the game, and O’Hearn’s RBI single gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Semien’s sacrifice fly tied it at 1-1 in the second but Brandon Lowe's third homer of the series gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead in the third. The Mets tied it at 2 in the fifth when Lindor, after starting the season 0-for-9, tripled with one out and scored on Soto's single.
Mendoza thought McLean was in a “much better rhythm” by the fourth inning and “kept us in the game.” But the Mets’ lineup struggled to stack competitive innings, striking out 16 times and walking only twice.
“We had a chance to win this game, even as much as we punched out today, still in it,” Semien said. “So that shows how good of a pitching staff we have, how good defense we can play, and we were only one swing away still.”
Newsday’s David Lennon contributed to this story.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
