'We're having a hard time': Mets can't solve Trop woes

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Mets were swept out of Tropicana Field, saying a quick goodbye to a building where they haven’t won since 2015. They’ve known all sorts of frustration here. But it never reached quite the level of the body blows they absorbed on Sunday afternoon.

They were one strike away from victory in regulation and up by a run in the 10th inning. They still didn’t win. Afterward, it was late-game bad luck and early-game lack of execution that explained a 7-6 defeat against the Rays.

“Right now, we’re having a hard time,’’ Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

Closer Edwin Díaz, who had converted 26 consecutive save opportunities dating back to May 24, 2022, left his full-count slider in a bad location against Randy Arozarena, who slammed it into the left-center-field bleachers for a stunning, two-out, game-tying home run in the ninth.

After the Mets pushed in a 10th-inning lead run on a replay-review reversal -- an inning-ending groundout had actually slipped out of Yandy Díaz’s glove at first base, allowing Harrison Bader to score -- they again had the chance to close it out.

And they did not.

After automatic runner José Caballero stole his fourth base of the game on Ben Rortvedt’s leadoff walk in the bottom of the 10th, Mets reliever Jake Diekman surrendered a line drive to the left-center-field gap by Jonny DeLuca. Bader, in center, tried to get the angle and he dove horizontally, but the ball eluded his glove and rolled to the wall.

Both runners scored on what was ruled a two-run triple for DeLuca.

It was over -- in crushing fashion for the Mets.

Mendoza said Bader made the proper aggressive play.

“I always trust my instincts,’’ Bader said. “In that situation, you have to go aggressively at the ball. It was hit in the perfect spot. You just put your head down and hope it works out. Funky things happen in this park.’’

The Trop’s funk once again did in the Mets -- and the normally redoubtable Diaz. It looked like he was prepared to overmatch Arozarena, who hit .143 in March/April. This time, though, Arozarena came through.

“[Díaz] is human,’’ Mendoza said.

“Tomorrow’s a new day,’’ said Díaz, who lamented the poor location on his slider to Arozarena. “I will flush it. Even if I was pitching good today, I will flush this, no matter what.’’

It was easy to spotlight a poor pitch by Díaz and a well-placed line drive that veered away from an aggressively charging Bader.

But Mendoza said there was enough blame to go around through the whole game. The Rays stole seven bases against the catching tandem of Omar Narváez and Tomás Nido. The Mets left 13 runners on base. Luis Severino, the Mets’ starter, allowed four runs in five laborious innings while walking a career-high six batters.

“He didn’t have his best stuff,’’ Mendoza said. “Obviously, it was a struggle for him to get ahead and he didn’t have good command of his fastball or overall with all of his pitches. We gave them a lot of free bases.’’

“I just didn’t have it,’’ Severino said. “It was important for me to get through [five innings]. We have a great bullpen. That last pitch [by Díaz to Arozarena] … he’s one of the best and he didn’t have the pitch in a good spot. They took advantage of that.’’

Meanwhile, the Mets couldn’t come up with timely hits. First baseman Pete Alonso, who snapped an 0-for-19 skid with an RBI double on Friday night, went 0-for-5 and grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the fourth. His batting average sunk to .206.

“It’s frustrating for sure, not being able to come through in [clutch] situations,’’ Alonso said. “I need to be better. All the other work and stuff to prepare for the game, no one sees that and no one really cares. People care about performance.

“I’m swinging, for the most part, at decent pitches. I’m just not making consistent hard contact. A lot of popups and ground balls. I haven’t been hitting nice crisp line drives. I’m doing the best I can, but again, no one really cares about trying. People care about results.’’

The Mets have not had those results at The Trop, having lost eight straight games in the building. Sunday was another defeat -- stunning in how it evolved, but a defeat nonetheless.

Francisco Lindor produced a two-run homer, while Narváez and Brandon Nimmo chipped in with RBI singles. But that wasn’t enough.

“We struggled to get things done offensively, but I thought our bullpen did a hell of a job,’’ Mendoza said. “We were one strike away. We’ve got to keep fighting. We’ve got to keep battling. Right now, yes, it’s frustrating.’’