Sports

Mets' comeback falls short in Sunday's 3-2 loss at Royals

The first half of the Mets‘ 2025 season is in the books. New York lost Sunday’s finale at the Kansas City Royals, 3-2, after a ninth-inning comeback fell short. The Mets enter the 2025 MLB All-Star break with a series win, however, after Friday’s 8-3 comeback and Saturday’s 3-1 triumph.

Takeaways

  1. At 55-42, the Mets have won seven of their past 11 games. As of this article’s publishing, they are tied alongside the Philadelphia Phillies, who entered Sunday afternoon’s game at the San Diego Padres with a 54-41 record. Despite the loss to the Royals (47-50), New York has won three of its past four series. Ultimately, it has a chance to keep the ball rolling Friday when the second half starts with a three-game set at the Cincinnati Reds.
  2. Clay Holmes gave the Mets a chance but got no support. Holmes (8-4, 3.31 ERA) was the tough-luck no-decision pitcher after the right-hander allowed two runs on five hits while striking out two and walking one in five innings. He threw 50 strikes on 81 pitches. His only scoring came via John Rave‘s RBI double down the right-field line with runners on second and third. It was a groundball that just stayed fair before trickling into the corner.
  3. Overall,Sean Manaea showed some serious signs of life in his season debut. He relieved Holmes for the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, striking out seven and scattering five hits in 3.1 IP. Manaea threw 44 strikes on 65 pitches — the highlight was him striking out the side in the seventh. Unfortunately for Manaea, the ninth saw him allow back-to-back one-out singles — capped by Nick Loftin‘s game-winning knock that drove home Tyler Tolbert. The Mets, though, need Manaea to be a key cog in the rotation for the stretch run. The bottom line is that he provided real promise throughout his first outing back from injury.
  4. Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Tyrone Taylor notched multi-hit games with two knocks apiece. Among them, Mauricio’s leadoff double in the ninth inning set the table for a Jeff McNeil triple that broke the Mets’ scoring drought before Jared Young‘s one-out sacrifice fly to center field brought McNeil home and tied the game into the bottom half of the inning. Mauricio is slashing .237/.311/.409 with four home runs and six RBI in 29 games since his June 3 promotion from Triple-A Syracuse.

Who’s the MVP?

Loftin, who got the best of Manaea in the game’s biggest spot.

Highlights

What’s next

After Tuesday’s All-Star Game, the second half of the Mets’ season starts Friday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY with New York’s three-game series against the Reds in Cincinnati.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *