The Grimace era sees its first loss as Mets bullpen can't hold lead

Rangers 5 Mets 3 (Globe Life Field: Arlington, TX)

Mets record: 35-38

Mets streak: Lost 1

WP - Jose Urena (3-5)

LP - Drew Smith (1-1)

SV - Kirby Yates (11)

Seat on the Korner:

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Leody Taveras' two run dinger off Drew Smith in the 7th gave the Rangers the lead for good and handed the Grimace Era Mets their first loss.

Need to Know

• The Mets' 7 game winning streak was snapped along with the Rangers 5 game losing streak.

• Pete Alonso's two run homer in the 6th gave the mets a 3-1 lead, and gave Alonso 10 RBI in his last 4 games.

• Sean Manaea had a no-hitter through 5 and 1/3 innings, and had retired 14 straight hitters at one point. Manaea gave up three runs on two hits and three walks in 5 and 2/3's.

• The Mets struck out 12 times against Rangers pitching.

• Wyatt Langford drove in two runs, one on a hit by pitch in the first, and then the game tying RBI in the 6th on an RBI single off Sean Reid-Foley.

Turning Point

The turning point, obviously, is Robbie Grossman getting the Rangers' first hit of the night in the 6th, as it led to the game tying rally which saw Josh Smith knock Manaea out of the game with an RBI double ...

... and then the single by Langford to tie it.

Three Keys

Middle Middle Meatball

Drew Smith gave up his second home run of the season, which doesn't seem like a lot for Smith, and that's encouraging. But considering where Smith pitches, home runs against him are usually big ones, and it sure was tonight.

Smith had Corey Seager at 1-2 with two outs and nobody on but lost him. Taveras was hitting .209 coming into the at-bat, so losing Seager didn't seem like a bad outcome. But it was turned into one when when Smith threw a middle middle pitch that Taveras crushed.

Lack Of Longevity

Manaea had a good game. He featured the cutter and the sweeper, and got plenty of outs from those pitches. But a 36 pitch first inning kept him from going deeper in the game.

Not being able to go deeper in games has been a recurring problem for Mets staters.

Bullish On The Bear

Pete Alonso has 8 hits and 10 RBI in his last four games. His OPS has gone from .760 to .796 in that time. His two run HR in the 6th gave the Mets a short lived lead.

Alonso continuing his production would make their recently snapped 7 game winning streak the rule rather than the exception.