NEW YORK -- With Darryl Strawberry in the house and 39,895 fans at Citi Field hoping to see history, the Mets fizzled.
Pete Alonso remained stuck on 251 career home runs. The Mets' lineup didn't get a hit after the fourth inning. And a New York team looking for a spark got none in a 3-2 loss to the Guardians on Tuesday night.
After winning seven games in a row from July 20-27, the Mets have lost seven of eight since, including three in a row. The Phillies, whom they're battling for the National League East title, have won three straight and now hold a 2 1/2-game lead over the Mets in the division.
"I think you just keep grinding away. Things are not as bleak as they seem," Brandon Nimmo said. "You're really, really close. You're one hit away, usually. … I really believe in this offense and this team."
The offense in particular sputtered on Tuesday. The last 14 Mets were retired in a row by the Guardians. New York's last hit was Jeff McNeil's single leading off the fourth inning, and their last baserunner was Juan Soto's walk with one out in the fifth.
Even Alonso, drawing loud ovations every time he stepped to the plate, had a relatively quiet night. Alonso entered the game -- and exited it -- one homer shy of Strawberry's franchise record of 252.
Alonso will get one more crack at tying or breaking Straw's mark in front of the home crowd in Wednesday afternoon's series finale. After that, the Mets go on the road for three games at Milwaukee.
"It'd be nice to do it here in front of our home fanbase, do it here at Citi Field," manager Carlos Mendoza said before the game. "It'll be special. But obviously I don't want to put too much pressure on [Alonso] -- I want him to go out there and just be himself. It's gonna happen."
The Mets' pitching, at least, kept them in the game, although one of the key rotation questions the team has been dealing with persisted on Tuesday: Clay Holmes again didn't pitch deep into the game.
Holmes was sharp against the Guardians, holding them to two runs in five innings with six strikeouts. His sinker was particularly effective. But he was lifted at the start of the sixth after 75 pitches, as Mendoza elected to deploy his top bullpen arms with the heart of Cleveland's order coming up for the third time.
"It's just one of those things, when you're in a pennant race, and you have a bullpen like we do, and games are really close, there are going to be some of those decisions where everything's not really in your control," Holmes said. "[Mendoza] made the decision that he thought was best -- best for the team and best for the win."
The last time Holmes completed six innings in a game was nearly two months ago, on June 7 against the Rockies. The Mets are trying to preserve him down the stretch, as he's already far exceeded his career high in innings pitched this year in his transition from reliever to starter.
"It's a really hard thing to do, just go out and triple your innings," Holmes said. "Especially when we're in a pennant race and we plan to be playing in October and we all need to be our best down the stretch. So just to run full speed right now, when we need to be our best down the stretch, there's more things to take into consideration. The reality of it is, my innings are getting up there. And we just want to keep me feeling good."
The Mets have the bullpen to cover four innings of a tight game, after their Deadline trades for Ryan Helsley and Tyler Rogers. But the relievers had to be too perfect on Tuesday, and against Rogers, the Guardians scratched out one bloop hit and two ground-ball hits for the go-ahead rally.
Those are the breaks of the game, but this was just an inopportune loss for the Mets.
"I've been around long enough to know that these kinds of streaks happen," Nimmo said. "And the best way to get out of them is: Have a short-term memory, come back tomorrow and just try to compete and grind and try to win tomorrow. You don't get a winning streak all at once. It has to start with one game."