Mets' defense betrays them in tough 2-1 loss to Blue Jays to begin road trip

· Yahoo Sports

The Mets lost the series opener to the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1, on Tuesday night.

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Here are the key takeaways...

-- Sean Manaea made his fourth straight start since joining the starting rotation earlier this month and his defense failed him from the first batter of the game when Juan Soto misread the bounce on the artificial turf after charging hard on a leadoff hit by George Springer. The ball hopped over Soto’s glove and rolled all the way to the left field wall.

Backing up was center fielder A.J. Ewing who got to it as quickly as he could, but he juggled the ball in his glove and let it pop out which allowed Springer to keep rounding the bases and sprint home for a leadoff little league home run. The play was officially ruled a triple and a fielding error on Ewing, but it was Soto’s misplay that was most costly.

The run was charged to Manaea after two groundouts, a hit by pitch and a single followed, but if Soto kept the ball in front of him and kept Springer at first base, Manaea would have gotten out of the inning unscathed.

Nevertheless, the left-hander pitched well and limited the Blue Jays to two runs over 5.2 innings while allowing three hits, two walks and a HBP. He would’ve made it through six innings, and possibly more, but once again an error, this one by Francisco Lindor with two outs in the sixth, extended his outing. Manaea walked the next batter he faced before getting pulled.

-- Meanwhile, the bats were quiet for the Mets for the first six innings against Toronto starter Trey Yesavage. Yesavage held New York scoreless and to two hits for six innings until Lindor made up for his error and hit a home run to lead off the seventh inning. 

Yesavage hit Ewing two batters later and left after 6.2 innings with a runner on first base. Mason Fluharty came in for relief but only threw two pitches before Ewing was caught trying to steal second base to end the inning. It was Ewing’s sixth caught stealing this season.

-- The Mets’ bullpen kept the Blue Jays off the board for 2.1 innings to give their offense a chance to tie or take the lead, but the offense squandered chances in the eighth and ninth innings.

In the eighth, Francisco Alvarez doubled with one out before Soto was intentionally walked with two outs which brought up Bo Bichette who was making his return to Toronto for the first time since he left in free agency. Bichette got a standing ovation in his first at-bat, but he finished 0-for-4, including in the eighth when he grounded out to the pitcher to end the threat.

Then in the ninth, Jared Young got on base with a one-out single and Ewing walked to put the tying run at second base and the winning run on first. But in a similar spot late in the game as Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Mets couldn’t cash in as Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio both struck out swinging to end the game. Mauricio’s at-bat was particularly bad as he swung at two pitches out of the zone.

-- New York went 0-for-9 with RISP.

Game MVP: Trey Yesavage

Yesavage continued his rookie season, after bursting onto the scene in the postseason last year, with another great outing. 

Highlights

What's next

The Mets and Blue Jays continue their three-game series on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:07 p.m. on SNY.

RHP Nolan McLean (4-5, 4.03 ERA) will face off against RHP Kevin Gausman (4-6, 4.36 ERA).

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