Sean Manaea’s Elvis Night Mets meltdown ends in walk-off loss to White Sox
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CHICAGO — Sean Manaea played into the Elvis Night theme here Friday by turning the ballpark into Heartbreak Hotel for the Mets.
The left-hander rolled into the sixth inning with a four-run lead and appeared ready to carry his team to another victory.
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Three straight homers later the White Sox had tied the game, and the meltdown was complete with Jake Rogers’ walk-off homer in the ninth against Jefry Yan, sending the Mets to a 6-4 loss at Rate Field.
The lefty Yan walked Colson Montgomery and then recorded two outs before Rogers cleared the fence in left-center to end it.
Yan thought he had struck out Montgomery leading off the inning on an 0-2 pitch and began his customary celebratory dance. But the pitch was called a ball — marking the second time in his brief major league career that Yan was guilty of premature celebration.
“Jefry will learn not to jump before the play is over,” interim manager Andy Green said. “That is something he is still working through. I think the emotions of the moment got him there and then he settled in nicely.”
Yan said his early celebration didn’t factor into any kind of mental letdown that led to him walking Montgomery.
“I walked him there, but I was able to get two outs right after,” Yan said through an interpreter.
It was a second straight blah performance for Manaea, who previously resurrected his season with a string of solid outings. Manaea also allowed four earned runs in his start against the Nationals last weekend, which lasted 6 ¹/₃ innings.
“The work he’s done behind the scenes here throughout the season while staying in competition is pretty remarkable,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said this week. “I think it speaks to who he is, how he want his career to be. It’s really tough to do what he’s done and make the type of progress that we believe he’s made during a season, while you also have to remain ready to pitch.”
But Manaea appeared shell-shocked after the homer barrage in the sixth.
“I was throwing more sweepers than I was [earlier],” Manaea said. “Ultimately, fastball home runs on two of them, getting them down — I was trying to get them up — but I think earlier in the game I felt like I was doing a better job of getting the ball up.”
Marcus Semien’s RBI single gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Semien’s hit was the team’s third in the inning against Sean Burke. Jared Young and Brett Baty also singled in the frame.
Tristan Peters misplayed Luis Robert Jr.’s fly ball in the fourth into a double, helping the Mets to extend their lead on Baty’s two-run double. Young also singled in the inning.
Bo Bichette’s homer in the fifth widened the Mets lead to 4-0. It continued a sizzling month for Bichette, who began the day with a .928 OPS in August. Bichette cleared the left field fence for his 13th homer this season.
Miguel Vargas launched a two-run homer in the sixth that sliced the Mets lead to 4-2. Randal Grichuk and Montgomery followed with homers to tie the game. It was the second time this season the White Sox hit back-to-back-to-back homers.
Nate Lavender continued his perfection with 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings. The lefty reliever has not surrendered a run in eight appearances for the Mets this season.
Daniel Duarte got the final two outs in the eighth and lowered his ERA to 0.82. Lavender and Duarte have been the two biggest standouts in the Mets’ rebuilt bullpen since the trade deadline.