The Mets looked to be on their way to a much-needed series win on Sunday, but things unraveled in the bottom of the eighth when New York’s secondary relievers couldn’t get the job done.
Josh Walker allowed three straight batters to reach base before Jeff Brigham came on and walked in a run before hitting two batters, turning a 6-3 lead into a 7-6 deficit, a score that would hold and put the Mets eight games back of a playoff spot.
Citing the recent workload by his top relievers in David Robertson and Adam Ottavino, Buck Showalter wasn’t sure what the alternative was in that eighth inning when it came to deploying his bullpen.
“What else can we do? That was kind of where we were,” Showalter said. “I was hoping just like last night that we could've stretched every out we can with everybody we got. They are capable of doing the job, they just didn't do it today.
“It's frustrating for the players and everybody, but we shot every bullet we had just about. We were hoping to get Robby there, but he pitched almost two innings [Saturday], Otto pitched an equivalent of two [Saturday]. We scored some runs and had a chance to open things up, and we didn’t. the hit by pitches and some things, Brigs has had some good outings for us, but it was tough for him today. We had a couple errors that cost us, but we can’t come in and walk those two left-handed hitters either.”
Showalter’s honeymoon with Mets fans seems to be waning, and fans were critical of his decisions in the eighth inning, though Brigham hitting two batters to force in runs was not ideal, either.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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