Mets lose 'the craziest game I've ever been a part of'

NEW YORK -- At some point between the 98-minute rain delay and Friday’s final pitch at Citi Field, which Luis García delivered moments before the clock struck 1 a.m., Mets manager Carlos Mendoza pulled every lever available to him.

By game’s end, Pete Alonso was on the bench, Luis Torrens was playing first base, the Mets had emptied their bullpen and stadium workers were preparing to shoot off fireworks over the stadium. But even after a pair of seldom-seen umpire rulings, a stunning ninth-inning rally and more than 400 total pitches fueling their longest game in six years, the Mets left Citi Field with nothing to show for it but a 7-5, 13-inning loss to the Dodgers.

“That was the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of,” outfielder Tyrone Taylor said.

Jeff McNeil, whose two-run triple in the ninth inning made much of the chaos possible, glanced at a clubhouse clock when asked about the exhausting nature of the proceedings.

“I mean, it’s 1:16, so pretty draining,” McNeil said. “It’s tough. It was a long game, and we had a chance to win it there and just came out on the wrong side.”

Initially, the game was billed as a clash between the last two teams standing in the National League last season, the Mets and Dodgers, who also happen to be the sport’s two biggest spenders. The Dodgers started likely future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, who lasted only until a rainstorm washed over Citi Field in the top of the third. By that point, the teams had already experienced their first oddity of the evening: a fly ball that Taylor juggled before catching, leading to confusion regarding whether Michael Conforto had properly tagged up from second. (He had.)

After the rain delay, the Mets scored a run on a similarly quirky obstruction call, but it wasn’t until the ninth inning that things really got wacky. Facing high-priced free-agent closer Tanner Scott, the Mets rallied on a walk and three hits, including McNeil’s triple, with a Taylor RBI single finally knotting the score.

That sent the game to extras, which would have been difficult for the Mets to navigate even under normal circumstances. Throw in the fact that both teams had sat through a lengthy rain delay, the fact that it was still wet and cold at Citi Field, and the fact that Mendoza was without both Mark Vientos (left abdominal discomfort) and Brandon Nimmo (neck stiffness), and the degree of difficulty ratcheted even higher.

Still, the Mets fought. In the 10th inning, Edwin Díaz loaded the bases with no outs before inducing two key ground balls to escape the inning. In the 11th, the Mets were the ones to strand the bases loaded.

In the 12th, the Mets again filled the bases with one out before Torrens -- who had entered after Mendoza replaced Alonso with a pinch-runner an inning earlier -- grounded into a double play to send the game to the 13th inning.

“You’re trying to go for the win there,” Mendoza said, explaining his decision to pinch-run for Alonso. “You’re trying to win the game.”

What the Mets needed most, though, they never received. Despite having an automatic runner at second base to start every extra inning, they never scored. They went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position from the 10th through the 13th, deepening the situational hitting issues that have plagued them all season.

Among the foremost culprits were Juan Soto, who grounded out with runners on first and second and one out in the 10th, and Francisco Alvarez, who struck out looking under identical circumstances in the 11th.

“You’re just fighting the whole time,” Taylor said. “I felt like we did a good job of that. We just came up a little short.”

Taylor spoke those words in a hushed postgame clubhouse, which contained none of the glee Citi Field had experienced during the ninth-inning rally. Around him, players dressed quickly and made their way to their cars.

Even then, the night wasn’t quite over. Postgame fireworks were on the schedule at Citi Field, and the team didn’t want to disappoint those who had waited roughly six hours to see them. So shortly after 1 a.m., the Mets did what they could not do from the 10th through 13th innings: give their fans a little something to cheer for before they trudged home.