Mets frustrated after third walk-off loss in SF

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pete Alonso encapsulated the Mets’ afternoon at Oracle Park, their nine-game road trip and, in many ways, their entire season with a single action in the third inning Sunday. After waving and missing at a fastball high and away, Alonso turned, took three steps back toward the dugout and, in mid-stride, snapped his bat over his knee.

Over 47 innings in San Francisco, the Mets had their chances. They knew it. It was their inability to score over the final three hours of their walk-off, 12-inning, 3-2 loss to the Giants on Sunday that irked them, with every member of the offense complicit.

“That was just frustration with that at-bat because I know I’m better than that,” said Alonso, who is batting .118 since the All-Star break. “I hold myself to a high standard and I was just frustrated.”

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He wasn’t alone. After striking out looking in the 12th inning, Michael Conforto barked at home-plate umpire Mark Ripperger, who had previously ejected Giants outfielder Kevin Pillar for arguing balls and strikes. Conforto at least stayed in the game, which lasted half an inning longer.

In the bottom of the 12th, Mike Yastrzemski hit a Robert Gsellman changeup over the fence in left to end things. Frustration bubbled up in turn for Gsellman, who put the pitch almost exactly where he wanted it, and for Jeff McNeil, who made a leaping attempt at the ball in vain, and for just about everyone else who took the field for the Mets this weekend.

In what amounted to a last-ditch effort to avoid a Trade Deadline selloff, the Mets outscored the Giants, 15-11, over four games in San Francisco. They lost three of the four.

“We’re not happy about the way this series has gone,” said Conforto, who hit a solo homer in the second inning to provide one of the Mets’ two runs. “We had a lot of opportunities to win all those games. It’s frustrating, but all we can do is move forward.”

Moving forward for the Mets, at this point, likely means acknowledging reality. With 63 games left to play, the Mets are 13 1/2 games back in the NL East and seven games out of a Wild Card spot. They are tied for the second-worst record in the National League.

With a little more than a week left until the July 31 Trade Deadline, the Mets do have some inventory to sell and restock for 2020 -- most notably starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, who is due to come off the injured list this week, but also possibly Jason Vargas or Todd Frazier. Trading any of them would make the Mets a weaker team, eliminating any remaining chance they might have to climb back into the playoff race. But the Mets have snapped enough bats this season to know their best opportunities are already behind them.

This series alone, the Mets either led or put the go-ahead run on base in the eighth inning or later in all four games. Losing three of the four left them at a loss for explanation.

“We could have been a lot better,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “We wanted it to be a lot better.”