Mets blow early 5-run lead, fall to Athletics for fifth loss in last six
NEW YORK -- JJ Bleday hit his first career grand slam, Shea Langeliers reached base five times for the second time in three games and the Oakland Athletics rallied to beat the New York Mets 7-6 on Thursday in the longest nine-inning game since the pitch clock was instituted last season.
"It felt like the longest game in the pitch clock era," Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said with a wry grin.
The game, played on a hot and humid afternoon in which the first pitch temperature was 85 degrees, lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes -- one minute longer than the previous mark set by the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants in Mexico City on April 29, 2023.
The Athletics and Mets combined to throw 425 pitches, the most in a nine-inning game this season.
Bleday said he was surprised to look at the scoreboard in the fifth inning and to realize the game was almost two hours old.
"That definitely felt like the longest game of the year," Bleday said.
Langeliers, who went 4 for 4 and was hit by pitch in Tuesday's 9-4 win, was 3 for 4 with a walk and was hit by another pitch Thursday as the A's took two of three from the Mets. Langeliers reached base 11 times in 15 plate appearances in the series for an on-base percentage of .733.
"It's a lot of fun getting on base," a grinning Langeliers said. "Just trying to keep things as simple as I can, not try to go up there (and) do too much. Just get a good pitch and put a good swing on it. I'm finding that just keeping it that simple, you're capable of stacking good days on top of each other."
The Athletics, who trailed 5-0 in the third, won despite leaving a season-high 16 runners on base -- tied for the third-most runners left on base in a nine-inning win in franchise history.
Oakland left the bases loaded twice in the first three innings against Jose Quintana before Bleday's slam in the fourth.
"One of the biggest at-bats was obviously the Bleday grand slam," Kotsay said. "It jumpstarted the offense, got us right back in the game."
Tyler Nevin tied it with an RBI groundout in the sixth against Reed Garrett (7-4) two batters before Langeliers scored on a single by Seth Brown.
Tyler Ferguson (1-1) tossed 44 pitches, tied for his second-most this season, over two scoreless innings. Scott Alexander worked around two hits in an 18-pitch seventh before Mason Miller threw a season-high 39 pitches while getting the first six-out save of his career and 18th overall this year.
Miller retired Francisco Alvarez on a liner to center on an 87 mph slider to strand two in the ninth.
"I was grinding out there, for sure," Miller said. "I didn't have my slider really towards the end there, hand was sweating like crazy, kept slipping out. To get that out, it's almost like a sigh of relief."
Mark Vientos homered twice and Luis Torrens hit a two-run single for the Mets, who have lost five of their last six. New York is two games behind the Atlanta Braves in the race for the third NL wild-card spot.
Jeff McNeil had an 11-pitch and a 10-pitch at-bat while Francisco Lindor also had a 10-pitch at-bat. It's just the fourth time since 1988, when pitch counts began being tracked, that the Mets have had at least three 10-pitch at-bats in a game.
The Mets walked 11 batters, their most since New York issued 11 against Washington on Sept. 27, 2020. On Thursday, manager Carlos Mendoza and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner ran out of mound visits in the sixth inning.
The Mets lead the NL with 468 walks.
"It's hard to win a baseball game when we give up (11) walks," Mendoza said. "We've got to go back and make some adjustments quickly here so we can stop that."
Mitch Spence gave up five runs in 2 2/3 innings for the Athletics. Quintana allowed four runs in four innings.
"When you get that support and you miss that 'W,' it's hard," Quintana said.
MOTORIN'
Max Schuemann had an amusing moment in the fourth when he raced from first to home on Daz Cameron's foul ball up the first base line while Alonso and Torrens waited for the ball to stop rolling.
DON'T LIVE THERE ANYMORE
The Athletics, who'll play the next three seasons in Sacramento while waiting for a stadium to be built in Las Vegas, finished their Oakland tenure with a 121-174 as a visiting team in New York.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: OF Brandon Nimmo (stomach illness) didn't play. ... RHP Sean Reid-Foley (right shoulder) has been shut down for a few days after the ball didn't feel right coming out of his hand during a rehab stint.
UP NEXT
Athletics: After a rare Friday off day for Oakland, RHP Osvaldo Bido (3-3, 3.92 ERA) is scheduled to start Saturday's opener of two-game interleague series against the San Francisco Giants, who had not announced a starter.
Mets: A nine-game homestand continues Friday when LHP Sean Manaea (8-6, 3.44 ERA) opens a three-game series against the Miami Marlins, who will counter with RHP Roddery Muñoz (2-6, 5.67 ERA).