After a horrible two-week road trip on the West Coast, in which the Mets dropped 11 games in a row, they returned home to Citi Field on Tuesday to open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins. This is the first of nine straight games the Mets will play at home.
Nolan McLean took the mound for the Mets against Simeon Woods Richardson for Minnesota.
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
After both teams went down quietly in the first two innings, Francisco Lindor hit a three-run home run in the third that gave the Mets a 3-0 lead early, driving in Carson Benge and Marcus Semien, who each reached safely earlier in the inning.
After five perfect innings on the mound, the Twins finally got to McLean and answered back in the sixth on a Byron Buxton two-run home run that drove in Matt Wallner and made it a 3-2 game.
They later tied it up in the seventh after Kody Clemens doubled and Luke Keaschall drove him in on an RBI single that knocked McLean out of the game.
Though his outing didn’t end how he wanted it to, McLean pitched a very solid 6 2/3 innings. He gave up just three earned runs on five hits, one home run, and struck out 10. His only mistakes were the sixth-inning home run to Buxton and the RBI single in the seventh. Outside of that, McLean did not walk any batters and looked sharp.
After Huascar Brazoban did his job to keep the Mets in it after McLean’s outing, the main story of the game didn’t come until the ninth when Devin Williams couldn’t even record an out as things imploded on the mound for him for a third straight game. He blew the save and cost the Mets to drop their 12-straight matchup, the second in a row directly tied back to his performance.
Williams walked two in a row and gave up a sac bunt to load the bases. He then gave up an RBI single to Keaschall before walking a third batter that allowed Minnesota to extend their late lead to 5-3 and knock the Mets’ closer out of the game.
Austin Warren was tasked with getting the Mets out of the inning before more damage was done, and he answered the call. With bases loaded, Warren struck out the side to keep it a 5-3 game.
But after Warren was the superhero of the ninth, the Mets went down in order in the bottom half of the ninth as their bats stayed silent to drop game one to the twins 5-3 after they came back from behind.
This marks the twelfth straight loss for New York for the first time since 2022.
Player of the Game
Tuesday’s player of the game was McLean, who struck out 10. But the rest of the team wouldn’t get an award until they win.
On Deck
The Mets and Twins continue their series on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m. at Citi Field. Clay Holmes taking the mound for the Mets. They will also finally get Juan Soto back in the lineup. No starter is announced yet for the Twins.
