On Tuesday night, a nearly full house flocked to Citi Field in the hopes of witnessing the historic home run by Pete Alonso.
However, the Mets lost to the Cleveland Guardians 3-2, their seventh defeat in eight games, with little offensive activity to spare.
Cleveland retired the Mets’ final 14 batters to secure a series victory after the Mets failed to score after the second inning and failed to get a hit after the fourth.
One of the star relievers the Mets acquired the week before the trade deadline, Tyler Rogers, gave up three hits in the seventh inning, including the game-winning two-out, go-ahead RBI single to Steven Kwan.
All of that spoiled a night when 39,895 people applauded enthusiastically each time Alonso took the field in the hopes that the beloved first baseman would tie the Mets’ all-time home run record.
Despite going one for three with a sacrifice fly, Alonso still has 251 career home runs, one less than Darryl Strawberry’s team record.
Tyrone Taylor’s second-inning RBI single against Guardians starter Logan Allen gave the Mets a 2-0 lead after Alonso’s first-inning sac fly opened the scoring.
Clay Holmes, the Mets’ starter, was unable to sustain that lead, though.
Holmes encountered difficulties in the fourth inning after retiring the first nine batters and striking out five of them. In the inning, he allowed three hits and a walk, in addition to Gabriel Arias’ two-out RBI single that tied the score at two.
Holmes was pulled after five frames and 75 pitches, as the Guardians only managed to reach base in the top of the fourth inning.
Holmes, a former reliever, started Tuesday for the tenth consecutive time that he pitched 5.1 innings or less. In seven of his first 13 starts, he pitched at least six innings.
In an effort to cut games short, the Mets reorganized their bullpen prior to the trade deadline, but Tuesday’s plan didn’t work.
The first two batters of the seventh inning were retired by Rogers, who the Mets acquired from the San Francisco Giants, but Kwan’s heroics were set up by consecutive singles by Brayan Rocchio and C.J. Kayfus.
In his three appearances with the Mets, Rogers gave up the first run.
Juan Soto earned a one-out walk against Allen in the fifth inning, but the Mets were unable to muster a baserunner.
Even though Cleveland’s star closer, Emmanuel Clase, is on paid leave due to a sports-betting investigation, four relievers combined to toss four 1-2-3 innings in the final four frames.
Wednesday afternoon, the Mets (63-51) will try to stop a sweep.
