For a team coming out of the All-Star break, the Mets sure didn\u2019t look rested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They limited Sean Manaea\u2019s pitch count \u2014 again \u2014 and turned over a one-run lead in the fifth to a 28-year-old rookie, then got almost nothing out of their inconsistent offense until two outs in the bottom of the ninth, as they opened the second half with an 8-4 loss Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s what happens when a team is putting three starting pitchers back into the rotation after IL stints, as the Mets are, and features an overused bullpen that\u2019s in need of a few upgrades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll take 70-75 [pitches] from Sean and try to piece it together,\u201d Carlos Mendoza said of the game plan for Manaea, who missed time with an oblique strain, as well as an elbow injury. \u201cThat\u2019s where we are. Is it a challenge? Maybe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Definitely, when the next man up is Alex Carrillo, who was making just his third major league appearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher Alex Carrillo (84) is pulled in the sixth inning on July 18, 2025.<\/p>\n
Cincinnati Reds\u2019 Spencer Steer (7) celebrates his two-run home run. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
After the Mets built a two-run lead, thanks in part to Juan Soto\u2019s homer in the first, and Manaea allowed just one run over four innings, Carrillo came in and allowed a two-out, two-run homer to Matt McLain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And with the Mets trailing by a run and Mendoza needing five innings from his pen, the manager rolled the dice with Carrillo again in the sixth and it backfired, as the right-hander allowed two more homers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In all, Carrillo gave up five runs in just 1 \u00b9\/\u2083 innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just didn\u2019t have it,\u201d Mendoza said of Carrillo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher Brandon Waddell (82) reacts in the eighth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Queens, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
But the bigger issue is not getting enough innings from parts of their rotation, as Manaea has been held to about 70 pitches in his past three outings, including a rehab start, Kodai Senga threw just 67 in his first start back from his hamstring injury, Frankie Montas sits in the 80-pitch range, and Saturday\u2019s starter, Clay Holmes, is limited as he blows by his previous season high in innings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and New York Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner speak with New York Mets relief pitcher Brandon Waddell in the 8th inning. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher Brandon Waddell (82) reacts in the eighth inning. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna need length out of our starters,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe feel comfortable with the guys back there [in the bullpen]. We\u2019ll give opportunities to some of these guys and continue to evaluate as we try to win baseball games.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Carrillo exited in the sixth, Mendoza left his primary relievers out of the game and let Brandon Waddell throw 76 pitches over the final 3 \u00b2\/\u2083 innings as the Reds pulled away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets attempted to make a game of it late.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shut down by Cincinnati\u2019s Nick Lodolo after the second inning, following All-Star snub Juan Soto\u2019s 24th homer in the first and a run-scoring single by Jeff McNeil in the second, the Mets saw the lefty retire 14 of 15 at one point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil singles in a run in the second inning. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Juan Soto jogs around the bases after hitting a solo homer in the first inning. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
Then, with two outs in the ninth, Brandon Nimmo doubled, Ronny Mauricio reached on an error, and McNeil walked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pinch-hitter Brett Baty reached on an infield single, and a Luis Torrens RBI hit made it 8-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
With the bases loaded, though, Francisco Lindor popped out on a 3-2 pitch to end it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Mets remained a half-game behind the first-place Phillies in the NL East thanks to Philadelphia\u2019s loss to the Angels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The defeat highlighted the need, even with the return of lefty Brooks Raley on Friday, for president of baseball operations David Stearns to add some arms by the July 31 trade deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s mess against a Reds team that\u2019s won five of its last six games only emphasized that point and provided a disappointing start to the second half by an inconsistent lineup that entered the break having scored more than three runs just once in the final five games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a team coming out of the All-Star break, the Mets sure didn\u2019t look rested.\u00a0 They limited Sean…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":75331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,5048,1266,405,403,1305,5226,5225,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-75330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-cincinnati-reds","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-mets","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114879859610894292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}