Mets Bullpen Fails Again, Lose to Reds
Well, it wasn’t Frank Francisco but the other big-money bullpen import who blew Wednesday night’s game against the Reds. Jon Rauch joins the list of failing Mets relievers who insist in giving up leads. And then it was the always-awful D.J. Carrasco sealing the loss with another putrid, yet depressingly predictable, performance.
Johan Santana gave up a run in the third, but the Mets answered right back in the bottom of the inning — Lucas Duda with the RBI single to tie the game at one.
Duda, who had three hits on the night, led off the sixth inning with a single. Daniel Murphy hit a ground shot to first that Joey Votto was able to snag. Instead of trying to get to first, he threw wildly to second almost from his back, resulting in runners on second and third. Ike Davis doubled to right to score Duda to break the tie and move Murphy to third. Then for the second time in three games the Mets pulled off a suicide squeeze — Mike Nickeas laying down the perfect bunt to run the score to 3-1.
Santana allowed a Todd Frazier solo home run in the seventh to cut the lead to 3-2. After a single and a sacrifice Santana was removed from the game. He allowed the two runs and struck out five in 6.2 innings. Bobby Parnell came on to get the final out on a strikeout.
But for some reason Terry Collins did not leave Parnell in the game. Jon Rauch started the eighth and gave up two singles and a double as the Reds tied the game at three. After finally getting an out Collins brought in Tim Byrdak to face lefty pinch-hitter Jay Bruce. Bruce hit a long fly to right that would have been a home run in Cincinnati. Instead it was a sacrifice fly at Citi Field, but still it gave the Reds a 4-3 lead.
Then Collins made the worst possible decision he could make — he brought Carrasco into a major league game. He proceeded to serve-up Frazier’s second home run on the night, this one a two run job, to extend the lead to 6-3.
Rauch has really been up and down for the past couple of weeks while Parnell has been excellent. Collins seems reluctant to use Parnell in certain situations. Perhaps he knows something the rest of us do not. Otherwise, his use — or non-use — of Parnell is baffling. And his use of Carrasco is just inexcusable. Can’t Sandy Alderson just admit his mistake and release Carrasco, putting us all out of our misery?
The Mets let another winnable game slip through their fingers, 6-3.
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