KANSAS CITY, Mo. — They couldn’t save a few hits from the previous game?
Such is baseball’s fickle nature that the Mets could total a season-high 23 hits against the Braves one night and then appear overmatched at the plate by the hapless Royals the next.
Neutered by mediocre left-hander Mike Montgomery and the Royals’ bullpen, the Mets lost 4-1 at Kauffman Stadium for their fourth defeat in five games.
“For over two weeks now, we have been getting that big hit,” J.D. Davis said after watching his team load the bases in the ninth, but not score against Ian Kennedy. “We didn’t get that tonight.”
The Mets (62-60) arrived wanting to sweep this team, which began the night 30 games removed from first place in the AL Central, but will now have to scramble over the next two days just to escape with a series win.
Among the conspicuous absentees was Pete Alonso, who went from a 5-for-5 performance Thursday to hitless in three at-bats with a walk Friday. But the Mets received little from the fifth spot in the batting order on down, as Todd Frazier, Juan Lagares, Joe Panik, Tomas Nido/Wilson Ramos and Ruben Tejada/Luis Guillorme combined for only three singles. Amed Rosario came to the plate with the bases loaded in the ninth and was retired by Kennedy to end it.
“We’re never going to stop fighting,” Frazier said. “You saw in the last inning we had opportunities to not only tie the game, but win the game. That is what we have got to keep doing. It was just one of those days where we had a couple of opportunities and we didn’t come
through.”
Montgomery, who entered with a 5.19 ERA, allowed only an unearned run on five hits and two walks over six innings before the Mets went virtually silent against the Royals’ bullpen and remained two games behind in the race for the NL’s second wild card.
Noah Syndergaard kept the Mets in the game by allowing two earned runs on five hits and two walks over six innings, throwing 90 pitches. But the outing snapped a streak of six starts since the All-Star break in which the right-hander had pitched at least seven innings.
“I felt like I had to battle the elements out there,” said Syndergaard, who is dealing with a cold. “I don’t know what it is about humidity, but we do not get along.”
Syndergaard added he had trouble gripping the ball: “I was sweating like a greased pig out there.”
Justin Wilson pitched a scoreless seventh for the Mets, but Brad Brach loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth before Edwin Diaz entered and walked Brett Phillips to force in a run. Bubba Starling followed with an RBI single that extended the Royals’ lead to 4-1. But the inning could have been worse: Diaz surrendered an apparent grand slam to Ryan O’Hearn, but the call was overturned on replay, which showed the ball outside the right-field foul pole. O’Hearn struck out and Diaz got Meibrys Viloria to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Manager Mickey Callaway said his only options behind Brach in the eighth were Diaz, Jeurys Familia and Paul Sewald, because Robert Gsellman is dealing with triceps soreness.
“[Diaz] did a pretty good job,” Callaway said. “When you bring somebody in bases loaded, nobody out, if they get out of it with one they have done an outstanding job. If they get out of it with two they have done a great job.”
Syndergaard rolled into the fifth with only one hit allowed, but the Royals soon assembled a rally to end their scoreless streak, which had extended to 22 innings. O’Hearn singled with one out and consecutive RBI doubles by Viloria and Nicky Lopez put the Mets in a 2-1 hole.
Michael Conforto stroked an RBI single in the third that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. It came after the Mets got a play overturned at second base in which Davis was originally called out on a transfer play. But replays showed second baseman Whit Merrifield never caught the throw from Hunter Dozier on Alonso’s grounder. Davis returned to second and Conforto drove in the run.
Panik ran the Mets out of an inning in the second as Tejada flied out to right. Panik misread the ball, believing it would fall, and was doubled up to end the inning.