Mets' feverish ninth-inning rally comes up short as they drop first series to Mariners

NEW YORK — Mariners reliever Paul Seward walked off the mound cupping his hand to both ears, goading the fans of his former team, while Jesse Winker continued to antagonize those beyond the left-field wall.

The Mets tried to mount a response with their bats but came up just short.

After trailing by three runs, they launched another feverish ninth-inning rally with an RBI single by Jeff McNeil and RBI double by Brandon Nimmo, getting them back within a run.

But Pete Alonso could not hold back on a slider from Diego Castillo with the bases loaded, and the strikeout forced the Mets to drop their first series of the season in an 8-7 loss to the Mariners in front of 38,476 fans on Sunday at Citi Field.

"I was just trying to see if he would throw anything over the dish," Alonso said. "With bases loaded, it’s pretty tough to lay off some of those good sliders. He executed extremely well there in that situation, and good for him. That was a tough AB, especially ripping those sliders in there."

It was the first time this season that the Mets (23-13) have lost a series. They won nine of their first 10, with the other being a four-game split against the Braves.

"You come in, you turn on the music, you dance and that’s just what you do when you win more games than you lose," said Nimmo, who was 2-for-5 with three RBI. "Yeah, you can definitely take it for granted.

"To be honest, I’m really, really proud of the fight today. We could’ve just rolled over and called it a day, especially a day game coming after a late night game, but we didn’t."

The Mariners' offense ignited for 16 hits, including eight off Carlos Carrasco, and scored off three different Mets relievers. Meanwhile, the Mets went silent after a four-run fourth inning as 14 straight batters were sent down in order into the ninth inning

Down 8-5 entering the final frame against Drew Steckenrider, Eduardo Escobar — who was mired in a 1-for-30 slump — kicked things off with a one-out triple before McNeil slapped an RBI single up the middle.

Patrick Mazeika followed it up with a single and Nimmo pushed an opposite-field RBI double down the left-field line to get the Mets back within 8-7.

Injury list: Mets starter Tylor Megill placed on the 15-day IL with right biceps tendinitis

The Mariners brought on Castillo, who fanned Starling Marte for the second out, before issuing an intentional walk to Francisco Lindor, who had hit his sixth home run in the first inning, to load the bases.

All 10 of Castillo's pitches were sliders, and he was able to get Alonso to go too far with full count on a pitch low and away. This time, the Mets' comeback attempt came up short.

"We gave ourselves a chance and the bases were loaded, and we had a real shot there at the end," Nimmo said. "I’m very, very proud of the guys."

The Mets had dug out of an early three-run deficit, with J.D. Davis and Nimmo each collecting a two-run triple in the bottom of the fourth inning to put them ahead 5-4, but the Mets' bullpen could not shut the door.

Feeling the squeeze

Carrasco could not limit the damage more than once.

After allowing two straight hits to start the third, he was able to get Cal Raleigh to ground into a double play that pushed across just one run.

But in the following inning, he loaded the bases by surrendering back-to-back singles from J.P. Crawford and Winker and a walk to Mike Ford. Ford cashed in on a two-run double to right, and Abraham Toro added a sacrifice fly to give the Mariners a 4-1 lead.

"Not quite as crisp," Buck Showalter said. "It was not quite the finish that he’s had on pitches. A lot of counts with some borderline pitches turning counts around.

"It’s a big difference between 2-1 and 1-2 counts. He never really got into a groove or feel for his split. Some counts didn’t work in his favor."

Carrasco said he felt he left some pitches up and did not have a good feel for his slider.

Showalter pulled Carrasco after he gave up a one-out single to Ty France in the top of the fifth and gave the ball to Chasen Shreve, who recorded the final two outs.

Carrasco finished with four earned runs allowed on eight hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 4⅓ innings.

"I gave up a couple base hits and one blooper was a slider," Carrasco said. "Instead of throwing it down and away, it went back to the middle. I was trying to find it there, and they just got me in the fourth inning."

Bullpen blues

Some of the Mets' most reliable bullpen arms early in the season were exposed by the Mariners over the course of the teams' three-game series.

For the second straight game, Shreve, who entered the series with a 1.54 ERA, surrendered a game-tying home run. After Winker ripped a three-run shot off Shreve on Saturday, Julio Rodriguez ripped the second home run of his career to left field to tie the game at 5-5.

Shreve was pulled after giving up a walk to Toro.

Drew Smith, who gave up the first run of his season on Friday after beginning with 13.1 scoreless innings, gave up a two-run home run to Raleigh.

With two earned runs charged to Shreve, his ERA popped to 3.38. Smith's once-perfect ERA now sits at 1.30.

"Winning in the big leagues is hard. It’s really hard," Showalter said. "There’s a fine margin, and we’ve been doing our share of positive things in that margin column. You go through periods where things don’t go your way."

Joely Rodriguez also gave up a run in relief on an RBI single to Julio Rodriguez in the seventh.He tormented the Mets on Sunday, going 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.

Holding his own

Colin Holderman got the call from Kevin Howard, the Mets' director of player development, right after breakfast in Scranton.

The Mets right-hander was hastily recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday morning with the news of Tylor Megill's injury. He took an Uber down, arrived right around the first inning, ate some food and headed out to the bullpen.

In the ninth inning, he made his major league debut, allowing a pair of singles but picking up his first career strikeout against Crawford and getting out of the jam with a pop-up from Eugenio Suarez.

"It takes the thought process out of it," Holderman said. "I just got thrown in there right away. I was fortunate enough to throw up a zero. It was not the easiest of innings, but I was able I got to grind, slow my heart rate down and get after it."

Andrew Tredinnick is the Mets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Mets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.

Email: atredinnick@gannett.com

Twitter: @andrew_tred

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets fall to Mariners in Sunday series finale, drop first series