Mets Fall Below .500 As Giants Hand Them 5th Straight Loss

The free fall continues.

The Mets lost their fifth game in a row, and second consecutive contest to the Giants to fall below .500 at 59-60 on Tuesday evening for the first time since May 5. They have now dropped the first five games of a brutal 13-game stretch with their latest 3-2 loss to the Giants and are 4.5 games back in the NL East and 12-20 since the All-Star break.

After the Giants built a 3-0 lead through seven innings, Pete Alonso got the Mets closer with a two-run home run in the top of the eighth. However, they could not complete the comeback.

Giants right-handed pitcher Logan Webb stifled the Mets for the majority of the night, tossing a career-high 7.1 scoreless innings. But Alonso's eighth-inning homer got the Mets back in it and chased Webb from the game.

Meanwhile, Marcus Stroman was more than solid across seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits, while striking out a season-high nine batters and throwing the most pitches (114) in an outing in his 2021 campaign. Albeit, he did not get the run support he deserved tonight.

The difference in the game was two home runs from the Giants' offense. In the first-inning, Tommy La Stella greeted Stroman with a two-run bomb, which put the Giants ahead early at 2-0.

Despite throwing a season-high 102-pitches after six, Stroman was asked to do some heavy lifting due to the Mets' taxed bullpen. Stroman stayed in for the seventh and Evan Longoria made him pay with a solo shot on the first pitch to extend the Giants' lead to 3-0.

The Mets had a chance to add another run in the top of the fourth when the Giants made a throwing error after J.D. Davis' single, but Michael Conforto failed to come around to score, which wasted a prime opportunity.

Down to their final three-outs, Jeff McNeil led off the ninth with a single against Jarlin Garcia to put the tying run on first. After Patrick Mazeika moved McNeil over to second on a fielder's choice, Gabe Kapler opted to bring in right-hander Dominic Leone. And Leone struck out Kevin Pillar looking to strand the tying run in scoring position, as the Mets lost for the fifth straight day.

With Pillar's strikeout, the Mets are now 4 for their last 41 with runners in scoring position.

Following this disappointing contest, first baseman Pete Alonso, who produced the Mets' only runs of the night on his eighth-inning long ball, remained optimistic that his team can still right the ship.

And according to Alonso, the Mets just need to keep taking things one day at a time, while they continue to search for that "special moment," which will help them finally turn the corner.

When asked if falling below .500 was a gut punch at all, Alonso says that is not the case.

"No, not at all. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish," said Alonso. "I think we are going to be in a very good place by the end of the year."

But his manager Luis Rojas offered a more sobering point of view.

"I understand how Pete is, that's just the way he is. He is a positive human being," said Rojas. "But from my end and the team's end, we are in a tough situation, that's the reality. We know what's happening. We have had our struggles."

"For us, what matters is the baseball we are playing. We are missing some things, we are short and didn't score enough runs. If we sit on our record and think about the .500 thing, it's distracting from what we need to do in getting results."

The Mets will have a fast turnaround in the series finale with the Giants on Wednesday afternoon at 12:45 pm PST/3:45 EST. And Rojas stressed the importance of getting back in the win column to avoid getting swept for the second straight series, and the third time in their last four.

"We need that one win that I know is going to put the group in a better spot in believing in ourselves," he said. "We have to move forward, but it doesn't take away from what it is. We have to stay positive, but we are going through a tough situation."