Carlos Carrasco took the mound on Saturday night for the Mets looking to get New York in the win column. However, the night after the Mets got a brilliant performance from Kodai Senga on the mound, Carrasco crumbled.

Carlos Carrasco. Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The 36-year-old struggled immediately out of the gate. After retiring Luis Rengifo to start the game, he allowed a double to Shohei Ohtani and then a single to Brandon Drury to put the Mets in an immediate 1-0 hole.

Carrasco escaped the first inning by retiring the next two batters but crashed and burned in the second. Mickey Moniak greeted Carrasco with a lead-off home run to begin the inning, but the right-hander got two outs and could have escaped the inning. However, the Angels scored three two-out runs behind a single from Rengifo, a triple by Ohtani, and a double by Drury.

Buck Showalter had seen enough and took the ball from Carrasco’s hand before the end of the second inning. The former Guardian had his worst outing of the season, allowing five runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings pitched.

Carrasco has been historically bad for the Mets this season. After his blowup start on Saturday, he owns the worst ERA in baseball (6.80) and is averaging only 4 1/3 innings per start. It was also Carrasco’s 11th start where he failed to make it into the fifth inning this season.

With a 5-0 deficit in only the second inning, the Mets offense had a tall task facing rookie pitcher Chase Silseth. The Angels right-hander had good life on his pitches early on, striking out three batters across the first three innings. However, Silseth also had a short start on Saturday but for a different reason.

Silseth got into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, allowing back-to-back singles to Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil. He bounced back to retire Alonso, but the unimaginable happened.

On a double steal attempt, Lindor didn’t take off, and the Mets had two runners on second base. Logan O’Hoppe threw to first base instead of third, allowing Lindor for a chance at third base. Trey Cabbage unloaded a throw to third base, hitting Silseth square in the head, causing him to fall to the ground and eventually leave the game.

While the Mets scored on the play that hurt Silseth, and then scored another run later in the inning after DJ Stewart doubled, New York couldn’t climb back from their early deficit. The offense got one more run on the night, while the Angels didn’t score after the second inning, defeating the Mets 5-3.

The one run the Mets added on came from a home run off the bat of Daniel Vogelbach. The lefty DH drove one to the opposite field in the sixth inning, recording his fifth home run in his last 13 games.

Trailing 5-3 in the eighth inning, the Mets faced their own injury scare. Facing José Soriano to lead off the inning, Pete Alonso took a pitch to the back of the neck, clearing both benches. It was the 17th time that Alonso was hit with a pitch this season which is the most in MLB. The Mets pulled Alonso from the game following the hit-by-pitch.

“He passed the concussion protocol,” Showalter said after the game about Alonso. “He’s been through a lot this season… He seems to be okay.”

While New York wasn’t able to secure a comeback victory, the Mets bullpen was perfect and held the Angels off the board once Carrasco was pulled. Sean Reid-Foley, Phil Bickford, Drew Smith, Adam Kolarek, Adam Ottavino, and Brooks Raley combined for seven strikeouts across 7 1/3 scoreless innings.

Pass The Baton

The Mets bullpen was fantastic on Saturday night. After Carrasco allowed five runs and failed to provide length, six Mets’ bullpen arms combined for 7 1/3 scoreless innings.

On Deck

The Mets will attempt to avoid a sweep at home to the Angels on Sunday afternoon. David Peterson (5.59 ERA) will take the mound for New York and face off against right-hander Griffin Canning (4.61 ERA).

First pitch on Sunday is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. The game will only be televised on Peacock and can be listened to on WCBS 880.