Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not a dagger, but the blade heading for the Mets’ playoff chances inched closer Tuesday as they fell 7-6 to the St. Louis Cardinals in extra innings.

With every team ahead of them in the NL East and Wild Card races losing, the Mets had a chance to pick up a game on everyone–including St. Louis–by beating the Cardinals. The Redbirds had other plans.

It started when Tyler O’Neill cranked a two-run homer off Jeurys Familia in the eighth inning, turning the Mets’ one-run lead into a one-run deficit. Javier Báez breathed life into the team, though, with a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at four.

The Mets had a prime chance to win it in the bottom of the 10th with a man on first and third with one out, but Francisco Lindor bounced a hard grounder to first, Paul Goldschmidt tagged the base and threw home to Yadier Molina, who caught Kevin Pillar in a run down.

That sent the game to the 11th inning, and the Mets had to use Jake Reed–freshly off the injured list–for the frame. (They’d used Aaron Loup, Familia, Trevor May, Edwin Diaz and Heath Hembree to that point.) The Cardinals peppered him with singles and scored three runs.

In classic 2021 Mets fashion, they brought the game to within one run in the bottom of the inning on a Pete Alonso double and error by Kwang Hyun Kim, but Albert Almora Jr.–the only righty left on the bench and Luis Guillorme available–grounded out on a full-count pitch to end the game.

The Mets were left with Reed to throw in the 11th because the game was close in regulation, forcing them to use the aforementioned relievers. That started with Marcus Stroman, who continued his consistently solid 2021 season in his 31st start.

He cruised through the first three innings, striking out six and allowing just a walk to Goldschmidt. Stroman had 14 swings-and-misses on the night–eight of them in the first three frames, which led to the high-than-usual strikeout totals the first time through the order.

But he ran into trouble in the fourth inning when three of the first four Cardinals reached base via a double (Goldschmidt) and two singles (O’Neill and Molina). The fifth batter of the inning, Dylan Carlson, tied the game at two with a sacrifice fly, and Stroman got Harrison Bader to ground out to end the inning two batters later.

Stroman rebounded the next two frames, allowing just one single and striking out two to close his night. He left with just 89 pitches under his belt, leaving you to wonder if the game would’ve ended differently had he not come out so soon.

Aaron Loup, in the conversation for the best reliever in baseball, followed him with a seven-pitch, 1-2-3 seventh inning, lowering his season ERA to an insane 1.05 in 51 1/3 innings. (His ERA is 0.40 since the All-Star break in 22+ innings.) He came out in the top of the inning despite throwing just seven pitches because the pitcher’s spot was up.

Poor hitting execution in high-leverage situations and questionable bullpen changes. That’s been the last two months.

But onto tomorrow, Tylor Megill (3-4, 4.06) will look to remain on track Wednesday after one of his best starts of the year last week against the Yankees. He threw seven innings of two-run ball in what turned out to be the longest outing of his career. He notched the win once the Mets blew the door open in the third inning, and the team never trailed again.

Ole foe Jon Lester (5-6, 4.75) will oppose Megill for the Cardinals. He’s struggled mightily with St. Louis, notching a 5.02 ERA and 1.59 in 75 1/3 innings. But the Mets have struggled against left-handed starters this season, and Lester has good career numbers against the Mets (3.18 ERA in 65 innings), including a six-inning, two-run outing

Player of the Game

Given the way the game played out (no decision for Stro and all), this one goes to Báez over Stroman.

Somehow, Báez walked three times for just the second time in his career. That’s now six walks in his last six games–a rate I’m positive he’s never had over any six-game stretch ever.

In addition to the walks, there’s obviously the game-tying dinger as well as a first-inning bunt that brought in a run. So, that’s 2-for-2 with a homer, two RBI and three walks. (He also got thrown out on the bases twice, but we’ll leave that to the side for now.) That’ll get you the Player of the Game, methinks.