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MILWAUKEE — Even Edwin Díaz isn’t immune from the stench that has engulfed the Mets over the past two weeks.
The All-Star closer could only drop his head and stroll from the mound after throwing his fifth pitch in Sunday’s ninth inning. Isaac Collins lofted that slider over the right field fence, sending the Mets to their seventh straight loss and 11th in 12 games, 7-6 to the sizzling Brewers at American Family Field.
The Mets blew a five-run lead, on a day Sean Manaea sputtered in the middle innings and the vaunted bullpen couldn’t protect the lead. The Brewers tied the game against Ryan Helsley in the eighth.
Díaz, pitching for only the third time in two weeks, got the final out in the eighth before Collins ended it leading off the ninth. The Brewers, who own MLB’s best record, won their ninth straight game.
Manaea turned in the latest shortened start by a Mets starting pitcher. The left-hander threw 87 pitches over four innings in which he allowed four earned runs on six hits with five strikeouts and two walks. It was a second straight underwhelming performance from Manaea, who surrendered five earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings against Cleveland in his previous start.
Juan Soto and Jeff McNeil each delivered an RBI single in the first inning after Francisco Lindor got drilled leading off the game and stole second. The Mets sent seven batters to the plate in the inning against Quinn Priester.
Brett Baty’s homer leading off the second extended the Mets lead to 3-0. The blast was Baty’s 12th this season and first since July 21.
Ronny Mauricio stroked an RBI single in the third after Pete Alonso doubled with one out. Alonso remained at 252 career home runs a day after tying Darryl Strawberry atop the franchise’s all-time list. He will get an opportunity to eclipse the record in front of the home crowd at Citi Field this week.
Cedric Mullins’ first homer for his new team extended the Mets lead to 5-0 in the fourth. Mullins, whose Mets tenure started quietly after arriving from the Orioles, had two hits on Saturday before clearing the fence in left-center a day later.
William Contreras homered leading off the fifth to slice the Brewers deficit to 5-1. But before the inning was complete, Manaea loaded the bases and surrendered a two-run single to Joey Ortiz.
Alonso’s RBI double in the fifth knocked out Priester and gave the Mets a 6-3 lead. Soto’s single and Brandon Nimmo’s sacrifice bunt began the inning.
Manaea was removed after surrendering a leadoff single to Collins in the fifth. Contreras’ second homer of the game, a shot over the right field fence against Reed Garrett, pulled the Brewers within 6-5.
Tyler Rogers escaped trouble in the seventh by getting Andrew Vaughn to ground into an inning-ending double play after Contreras’ single put runners on the corners with one out.
Helsley surrendered a game-tying RBI single to Ortiz in the eighth. Ortiz’s grounder off the diving Alonso’s glove followed a leadoff walk to Brice Turang and Danny Jansen’s one-out single.
