Mets can't hold late lead in loss to Angels

ANAHEIM -- The Mets had a few things going for them on Saturday at Angel Stadium, namely a quality start from David Peterson and a grand slam from J.D. Martinez in the top of the seventh inning gave them a two-run lead, but it wasn’t enough as an Angels rally in the next half-inning led to a 5-4 Halos win.

“Anytime we get the lead late in the game … you definitely think you’re going to hold off, but you know, it happens,” Martinez said. “It is what it is. It’s baseball.”

The Mets' loss didn’t come from a lack of opportunities. Martinez’s grand slam aside, they went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners stranded on base.

Their biggest chance came in the top of the eighth inning, when third baseman Mark Vientos hit a leadoff double to put the tying run in scoring position. Luis Torrens, Jeff McNeil and Tyrone Taylor all proceeded to ground out consecutively and strand VIentos at third.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t get the job done,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We had traffic, but you got to give [Angels starter José] Soriano some credit, too. And then losing the lead like that after we took it. At the end of the day, we need to win baseball games and we didn’t do it.”

Peterson also played his part on the mound in putting the Mets in a position to win. After a rough first inning in which he gave up the first run of the game and found himself in a jam with runners on first and third, he bounced back to strike out Brandon Drury to end the inning. Peterson gave up just one more run on three more hits for the rest of his outing to go along with four strikeouts in six innings.

“Just focus and execute. Just get back to who I am,” Peterson said of how he got his command back after his first-inning struggles. “I felt like my tempo was a little off in the first, and so just being able to get back to a consistent rhythm and feel my mechanics the way I should.

“I just felt good about getting through six and keeping the guys in it, and letting the offense be able to do what they did.”

The Mets were down to their final three outs with the top of the lineup due up in the ninth, but Angels closer Ben Joyce made quick work of them in order and got the save as Martinez whiffed on a 104.7 mph fastball to end the game. He couldn’t do anything but laugh after seeing that pitch.

“It was hard. I've never seen a fastball like that. For me, personally, that was the fastest fastball I've ever faced,” Martinez said. “Kudos to [Joyce] man, he throws hard and goes right at you. He's not sitting there, flipping stuff. It's power-power. Let's go. I put some respect on him because of that.”