​The Mets stood three outs away on Sunday from salvaging the finale of their three-game series with the Boston Red Sox and going into the All-Star break on a rare high note. A victory wouldn’t have altered much in the standings, since New York is already out of contention in what has been a lost season, but the mood in the clubhouse would have lifted after Zach Thornton delivered a spectacular performance in just his third major league start and appeared poised for his first career win.
Yet even small wins have proven elusive for the Mets this season as Francisco Lindor and Devin Williams could not finish the job in the ninth. Lindor, who had driven in both New York runs with a first-inning double and a solo homer in the sixth, mishandled a ground ball hit directly at him that could have been turned into a game-ending double play, allowing the inning to continue. “The ball ate me up,” Lindor said after the game. “I went after it, it just took a hard hop and hit me on the palm of my hand—the palm and wrist area. I just didn’t make the play. It’s unacceptable.” Williams then walked the next batter to load the bases and another walk brought home a run. Jarren Duran singled on a shallow fly to tie the game before a lineout double play bailed the Mets out momentarily. In the end, though, it merely delayed what was coming.
New York failed to score in the bottom half of the inning, sending the game to extra innings where Boston struck in the 10th to take the lead. When it was the Mets’ turn to bat, they could not even advance the automatic runner at second, and they were swept in a gut-punching fashion that capped a first half in which they went 40-57.
“Yeah, that’s tough. Everybody in that clubhouse will tell you that right now,” interim manager Andy Green said. “Everybody’s out there wanting to win a baseball game, putting everything out there.”
The blown save, though not entirely Williams’ fault, was his third of the season, and with one of the two runs he allowed earned, he now owns a 4.83 ERA. After a brilliant June in which he pitched to a 0.96 ERA across nine appearances, the right-hander has struggled again, carrying a 10.80 ERA in four July games. Despite this, Green indicated there are no plans to remove Williams from the closer’s role as the team resumes play in the second half, citing the right-hander’s long track record and experience.
“Devin’s done it for so long, and he’s done it really, really well,” Green said. “We can look at this game scenario and say we had a double-play ball, we didn’t defend behind him on that particular play. We got a blooper that fell in. This game is usually on our side of the ledger, and it’s not, and, like I said, it’s painful and frustrating for everybody in that clubhouse, but he did some positive things on the mound.”