NEW YORK _ The Mets took the field on the final Monday of the regular season with a glimmer of hope left in their postseason aspirations. That glimmer went away with one big shot off the bat of Jorge Alfaro on Monday night. A grand slam from the Marlins catcher, his second of the night, was the merciless blow dealt to the Mets in an 8-4 loss at Citi Field.
While not mathematically eliminated Monday night, it makes the remainder of the week incredibly difficult on the team. Not only will the Mets have to essentially win their remaining six games, but they'll have to hope that the contenders ahead of them, Washington and Milwaukee, lose the games they have left. With the Nationals playing a doubleheader tomorrow and the Brewers in action, the Mets could be mathematically eliminated before even finishing their game Tuesday night.
The victory for Miami was their first at Citi Field all season after six previous defeats. The Mets have dropped to 12-8 overall against the Marlins, who have the worst record in the National League at 55-101.
Steven Matz entered Monday night with the second-lowest ERA at home of any pitcher in the National League. Matz's night ended with his worst home start in over two years. Matz allowed six runs on nine hits in five-plus innings, striking out three and giving up two home runs to Jorge Alfaro.
Alfaro led off the second inning with a solo home run to give the Marlins an early 1-0 lead. Miami added another run in the third inning on an RBI single by Miguel Rojas. Alfaro would haunt Matz once again in the sixth inning after the first three Marlins all reached on singles to load the bases. Alfaro's grand slam would end Matz's night and felt like it had ended the slim playoff hopes remaining for the Mets.
The Mets, as they have done throughout the season, climbed back from a large deficit. In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets loaded the bases for the second time in the game. With two away, Amed Rosario's 15th home run of the season cleared the bases and pulled the Mets within two runs again at 6-4.
That would be as close as the Mets would get as the Marlins scratched out a couple more in the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and two away, a close play at first base was overturned by a manager's challenge that took two minutes and 31 seconds to overturn. Brad Brach attempted to cover first base as Pete Alonso fielded the ground ball. Brach's foot was Two runs scored on the play and changed the score to an 8-4 Marlins lead.
All in all, the Mets left 11 runners on base against Marlins pitching, including loading the bases in the first inning. Six of those runners were left on base at the hand of Todd Frazier, who popped out with the bases loaded to end the first inning and popped out again with two runners on in the third inning. Frazier also flew out to center field with a runner on second base to end the game.
