As flames enveloped Jeurys Familia in the seventh inning Sunday, the signal to the bullpen occurred a batter too late. And then it got uglier for the Mets.
A tired bullpen — without Seth Lugo, Aaron Loup, Edwin Diaz and Miguel Castro — left manager Luis Rojas searching for answers. And he came up with the wrong one: Trying to stretch Familia, perhaps on fumes, for two innings and then entrusting the bases-loaded situation to Jacob Barnes.
The tag team of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado blasted five runs worth of homers in the inning, denying the Mets a three-game sweep of the Padres with a 7-3 loss at Citi Field.
The meltdown was a rare hiccup for a Mets bullpen that entered eighth in the major leagues with a 3.51 ERA this season, with Familia among the brightest spots.
Disaster struck as Rojas tried to get a second inning from Familia, extending him to 41 pitches, after the right-hander had worked a scoreless sixth. With two outs in the seventh, Familia walked pinch-hitter Jurickson Profar to load the bases and then remained in the game to issue a four-pitch pass to Tommy Pham, forcing in a run to tie it 2-2. Barnes entered and served up a grand slam to Tatis. The ensuing batter, Machado, also homered to put the Mets in a 7-2 hole.
Rojas cited a short bench — Billy McKinney (knee) and Jonathan Villar (family matter) were unavailable — and the fact the pitcher’s spot in the order was due up in the bottom of the seventh for summoning Barnes instead of Trevor May. The idea would be to get more than one out from May, his best available reliever. Rojas also defended his decision to stretch Familia after he had walked Profar to load the bases.
“[Familia] didn’t show he was gassed out or anything at that point,” Rojas said. “He did have a high pitch count in the inning, but just him throwing the sliders repeatedly, he was pitching. I felt that he was controlling the ball and was trying to get a strikeout of Profar.”
Barnes was under the impression he was preparing to face Pham, but Rojas decided to give Familia the shot.
“I think they were trying to let him get out of his situation and unfortunately Pham got a walk there,” Barnes said.
Familia’s troubles in the inning began when he walked Eric Hosmer leading off. Ha-Seong Kim followed with a single to right field before Webster Rivas’ sacrifice bunt moved the runners up. Familia struck out pinch-hitter Trent Grisham for the second out before the inning collapsed.
Lugo, Diaz and Loup were all unavailable because of recent usage and Castro was out due to neck stiffness.
“You kind of know there’s three or four guys down today,” Barnes said. “We had this earlier in the year, too, a lot of times actually. You know there is probably half the bullpen available. Once Joey [Lucchesi] came out in the fifth I kind of knew at some point I would be in this game.”
Lucchesi gave the Mets a chance by completing five innings for the first time this season. The left-hander allowed one earned run on four hits with six strikeouts and one walk. It was the fourth straight start in which Lucchesi allowed one earned run or less.
Pham was responsible for the one run against Lucchesi, with a homer leading off the game. Lucchesi surrendered two additional hits in the first inning, but escaped by getting Hosmer to hit into a double play.
In the second, Lucchesi walked Rivas before getting Jorge Mateo to hit into an inning-ending double play. The Mets turned their third double play of the game in the sixth, after Familia had allowed consecutive singles to begin the inning.
Jose Peraza launched a two-run homer in the fifth that gave the Mets a 2-1 lead. The blast was his fourth of the season. In the inning, Mason Williams delivered a one-out single against Chris Paddack before Peraza cleared the fence in left-center.
“It was a tough one,” Rojas said of the loss. “Knowing that we had the lead at some point against this team and knowing how our bullpen has been pitching, we felt pretty good and it flipped for us.”