QUEENS, NY — These are not the New York Mets we’ve grown accustomed to this season.
Somehow, following a six game winning streak, they’re the Mets who lost 9–0 on Sunday afternoon and got swept at home by a Tampa Bay Rays squad that lacks the same star power, pop and pizzazz as the Mets; one that’s won seven fewer games and sits 4.5 games back of their division lead.
New York was out-pitched and out-hit Sunday as they dropped the final game of their three-game weekend set to the Rays.
Citi Field has been a fortress for the Mets this season — a fact that makes this weekend’s collapse all the more inexplicable.
New York entered Sunday coming off an 8–4 loss Saturday against the Rays. They’d dropped the first two games of this series — the first time they’d dropped back-to-back contests since their three-game losing streak from May 18-20.
The Mets’ 45–26 record entering Sunday is the best in the National League, and second in Major League Baseball to only the Detroit Tigers. This is tied for the third-best start in franchise history through 71 games with the 2022 team. Only the 1986 (50–21) and 1988 (46–25) Mets had a better record to open the season.
New York is 27–9 through their first 36 home games in 2025, marking their best home start in franchise history.
The Mets have historically struggled on Father’s Day, entering this season’s edition 30–38 all-time.
Pitching trouble
Griffin Canning struggled on Sunday, lasting only 4.1 innings. He allowed four hits, six runs (all earned) and five walks. He recorded two strikeouts. Of his 89 pitches, 50 were strikes.
In Canning’s last outing on June 10 against the Washington Nationals, he tossed 5.1 innings and allowed four runs. He only walked two batters — the eighth time in his 13 starts this season he’s done that.
Canning began to unravel in the top of the second inning as he allowed Tampa Bay to take a 3-0 lead. By the end of the inning, he’d thrown 46 pitches. He walked two batters, then allowed an infield hit to José Caballero. Kameron Misner hit into a fielder’s choice, and the Rays took a 1–0 lead. Canning threw a wild pitch by the next batter, Danny Jansen, allowing another run to score. Jansen followed up with an RBI single, on which he made it to second base.
Canning didn’t fare much better in the third inning. He walked Junior Caminero, then gave up a single to Jonathan Aranda. Jake Magnum then grounded into a fielder’s choice to bring home Tampa Bay’s fourth run of the afternoon.
He was better in the top of the fourth, with a three-up, three-down inning.
But New York allowed the Rays to put the game away in the top of the fifth. Canning walked Josh Lowe to lead off the inning. Two batters later, he walked Caminero, after which Carlos Mendoza took Canning out of the game, replacing him with Max Kranick.
Kranick gave up a double to the first batter he faced, Aranda. The Rays scored two more runs and took a 6–0 lead.
The 9–0 deficit at the top of the ninth, courtesy of a Caminero three-run home run, loomed large enough that the Mets put Canadian utility man Jared Young on the mound as much of the sellout crowd headed for the exits. He surrendered a single and a walk, before getting Misner to pop out, much to the entertainment of the remaining fans.
Squandered opportunities
The Mets’ bats didn’t offer Canning or any of their relievers any run support Sunday. New York managed five hits on the afternoon, and despite getting runners on base throughout the contest, the Mets could not get them home.
With two outs in the bottom of the third, Pete Alonso faced a dream scenario: bases loaded and a 3–1 fastball count. He swung through two straight four-seam fastballs to end the inning. He left the bases loaded.
Brandon Nimmo entered Sunday’s game on a hot streak — he’s batting .367 over his last seven games with seven runs, one double, three home runs, seven runs batted in, two walks and one steal, with a 1.106 OPS. This month, Nimmo has four home runs and 10 runs batted in while slashing .288/.351/.558. In the 14 games he’s hit second in the lineup, he has three doubles, four home runs, 10 RBI, five walks and one steal, while hitting .373/.439/.667.
Nimmo wasted little time keeping his hot streak alive, singling in the bottom of the first inning in his first at-bat, then stealing second base — the Mets have the best stolen base percentage in MLB, entering Sunday with an 86.6% SBP. Nimmo’s next at-bat came in the bottom of the third with one out and runners on first and second. He struck out.
The lack of clutch hitting continued through the later innings. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Juan Soto walked. Alonso promptly hit into a double play. Ronny Mauricio, pinch-hitting for Brett Baty in the bottom of the seventh, led off with a single. Francisco Alvarez popped out. Luisangel Acuña struck out. In the bottom of the eighth, Soto and Jeff McNeil walked. Tyrone Taylor struck out and left them stranded.
The Mets rallied briefly in the bottom of the ninth. Alvarez and Acuña singled. Nimmo walked. Soto flied out to left to end the game.
On several occasions Sunday, the ball didn’t pop the way New York would have hoped. They hit multiple deep fly balls that chased the Rays’ outfielders onto the warning track. McNeil hit one to right field in the bottom of the second, but Josh Lowe tracked the ball well. Alvarez hit into a similar flyout to lead off the fifth. Then, Lindor hit a towering fly ball to deep right field, but it moved foul. MLB has seen a notable drag increase this season on fly balls, compared to the nine other seasons the league has tracked this metric, The Athletic reported.
What’s next
The Mets are off on Monday and will embark on a six-game road trip beginning Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves. Afterward, they will face the Philadelphia Phillies. They return home on June 23 to face the Braves.
