Severino's no-hit bid, Mets' lead crumble late

NEW YORK -- The Mets are accustomed to no-hitter disappointment. Before Johan Santana’s hero turn in 2012, the franchise had gone 50 seasons without one … but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Tom Seaver famously took three no-hit bids into the ninth inning, but he didn’t complete one until years later with the Reds. For Mets fans already sick at the thought of losing Seaver to another franchise, this was the ultimate indignity.

For those of a certain age, Jimmy Qualls, Leron Lee and Joe Wallis are names that remain etched in franchise lore -- typically with four-letter epithets attached to them.

• Mets' no-hitter history

Put simply, the Mets have a complicated relationship with no-hitters. It continued Monday evening at Citi Field, where Luis Severino took a no-no into the eighth only to lose his bid -- and the lead -- in a 3-1 loss to the Cubs. After Severino departed, Christopher Morel’s two-run homer off Edwin Díaz sent the Mets to defeat in the ninth.

Severino’s effort was the franchise’s 21st no-hit bid of at least seven innings, putting him alongside the likes of Seaver, Dwight Gooden, David Cone and others. The Mets -- remember, it’s complicated -- have lost five of those 21.

“That sucks,” Díaz said, “because man, he threw a great game.”

For most of the night, Severino was about as efficient as possible -- so efficient, in fact, that when he completed his first six innings on just 69 pitches, the sky in Queens had not yet fully darkened. Relying on a six-pitch mix including a pair of fastballs that ran into the upper 90s, Severino intentionally pitched to contact in an effort to last deeper into the game. It worked; over the first six innings, Cubs hitters put 15 balls in play and only three were hard-hit. Chicago’s best chance at a knock came on a Pete Crow-Armstrong dribbler that Jeff McNeil charged aggressively to field.

“He was so good,” Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “He was throwing hard, but, somehow, even his ball had extra life than just the velocity.”

“Everything was lining up just right,” added Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, whose leadoff homer in the bottom of the first was the game’s only run to that point.

Severino was working so quickly that Díaz, who typically spends the first portion of games in the dugout or clubhouse, had to rush to the bullpen in the middle innings. Around the eighth, Díaz turned to bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello and noted that it had been two years to the day since the Mets’ prior no-hitter, a combined effort against the Phillies that he personally finished. Díaz wondered if he would have another chance at history.

His answer came two batters into the eighth inning, when Severino jammed Swanson on an 0-2 fastball off the inside corner of the plate. As Swanson’s bat cracked, the ball looped over Francisco Lindor’s head for a clean single. An announced crowd of 25,046 groaned, then rose to its feet in ovation. Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner visited the mound, more to give Severino a breather than to deliver any sage advice. Suddenly, the game was on the line, with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

“After that, it was just thinking of winning,” Severino said.

Two batters later, with runners on first and third, Nick Madrigal hit a broken-bat chopper to third. Joey Wendle, who had just entered as a defensive replacement, attempted to start an inning-ending double play rather than cut down the potential tying run at home. But Madrigal beat the relay and the Cubs tied the game, setting up the ninth-inning disappointment to come.

“Obviously, I looked at the replay,” Wendle said. “I had an opportunity to get him at home. I also felt I had an opportunity to end the inning. That’s the decision I made, and unfortunately, the wrong one.”

As a result of that play and Morel’s homer, Severino joined Seaver, Randy Tate, Ron Darling and Pedro Martínez in an inauspicious club: Mets pitchers to throw at least seven no-hit innings in a game their team lost. And so the franchise’s knotty history with no-nos continued.

“That’s how baseball can go,” Nimmo said. “You go from a possible no-hitter and winning a ballgame in a very exciting fashion to being down two runs … It’s tough. But baseball never promises to be easy.”