Mets bullpen implodes, wastes Frankie Montas' strong debut in another loss to Braves

NEW YORK — As the Mets continued to search for answers in their miserable stretch, they appeared to have a glimmer of a solution with Frankie Montas outperforming expectations.

But lately, when one segment of the game seems to excel for the Mets, the other elements provide enough turbulence to disrupt that momentum.

As Montas delivered a dynamic debut on Tuesday night, the bullpen would not let the right-hander have his moment and the offense faded to the background.

The Mets wasted five shutout innings from Montas as the bullpen turned in a calamitous five-run six inning in a 7-4 loss to the Braves in front of 38,130 fans on Tuesday night at Citi Field.

"Not happy with the results, but again, we gotta come back tomorrow ready to go," Carlos Mendoza said. "We're going through it right now, but they're professionals. They've been there before. They're good players. They know they're good players but we gotta go out there and do it and we will."

The Mets have now lost 10 out of their last 11 games, including all five contests against the Braves. They have gone 1-7 in games against Braves and Phillies during that stretch and are 46-34 on the season.

"We're still in the mix, we're still fighting. We're grinding. We're one week away from looking completely different," Francisco Lindor said. "At the end of the day, I believe in what we have here. The guys are continuing to stay together. We continue to fight. We continue to play for each other."

Frankie Montas' positive debut

After Montas' final rehab appearance for Triple-A Syracuse, Mets leadership had cosigned another uneven performance with encouraging assessments.

Montas' pitch package looked better, but he tired down the stretch of his five-inning outing. In between his trip back from Syracuse to New York, there was a crisper from Montas' repertoire.

That gave the Mets faith despite Montas allowing 25 runs in 18⅔ of five rehab appearances.

"When I was out, I was just trying to get my pitches in, get my pitch count, work my pitches and trying to get ready for when I get an opportunity up here," Montas said. "I was just trying to go out there and do my job, get people out,"

On Tuesday night, that improvement proved to be prophetic as Montas saw his fastball touch 97.8 mph and averaged 96.2 mph. He received all nine of his whiffs on that pitch. He allowed three hits and three walks across five innings while striking out five.

Montas encountered trouble in the first and third innings but managed to work through it. In the first, he allowed two baserunners with one out before Brett Baty dropped to a knee to kick off a slick double play against Austin Riley.

In the third inning, Montas allowed a single to Nick Allen and walked Ronald Acuna Jr. With one out, Montas picked up a fly ball and as both runners moved into scoring position and sent down Marcell Ozuna swinging on a fastball.

"I thought he was good. The ball was coming out well - a heavy sinker, 97, 98 (mph), attacked," Mendoza said. "I thought there was some cutters, some short sliders. They didn't chase his split, but overall, got ground balls there, threw strikes. He looked strong. He gave us a chance there."

Miserable sixth inning

The Mets carried a 3-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning and Mendoza brought on Huascar Brazoban to face the heart of the Braves lineup.

It ended up poorly for the Mets right-handed reliever, who issued three straight walks to Ozuna, Riley and Drake Baldwin. It set the stage for the Braves' first run as Ozzie Albies knocked a sacrifice fly.

Jose Castillo did not fare any better against the bottom of the Braves' lineup with runners on the corners. He allowed a sharp infield single that was knocked down by a diving Baty. Then, he hit Michael Harris II and gave up an RBI single to Nick Allen that tied the score for the Braves.

Brazoban was charged with three earned runs while recording only one out. He has now given up nine earned runs in 8⅓ innings in the month of June.

"Just his ability to either get ahead at times or put hitters away," Mendoza said. "Three walks today, leadoff, obviously, non-competitive pitchers there, but then I felt like the next two batters, he couldn't finish them off."

Reed Garrett, who had tossed Monday night's eighth inning, failed to keep the score there. He struck out Acuña for the second out but gave up a two-run single to Matt Olson.

"We take care of those guys, but as much as you take care of them, there's going to be stretches where it's not going to be easy for them," Mendoza said.

Brett Baty's big hit surrounded by empty offense

The Mets had pieced together a strong fourth inning against Spencer Strider to take a 3-0 lead.

The Mets loaded the bases on two walks and a Pete Alonso single before Jeff McNeil opened the scoring on a sacrifice fly. Then, after Luis Torrens drew a walk to loaded the bases again, Baty looped in a two-run single into shallow right field.

"When you got guys like that at the bottom doing things like that, winning counts, winning pitches, winning at-bats, that's how we're going to get out of this," Mendoza said. "Again, one inning then we couldn't do much after that."

They Mets offense went into hiding over the next four innings as they could not collect a hit, walked once and struck out seven times as a team.

Trailing 7-3, the Mets got three hits in the ninth — a McNeil double, Jared Young pinch-hit single and Ronny Mauricio RBI double — but Lindor grounded out as the tying run at the plate.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets bullpen wastes Frankie Montas' strong debut in loss to Braves