Mets Fall to Royals 16-12 in Clash of the Cellar Dwellers

Tuesday marked the start of the penultimate series before the All-Star break for teams around the league. For the Mets, they are closing out the first half of the year with six straight games at home, including three against former Met, Starling Marte and the Kansas City Royals. It was the first time Marte was returning to Citi Field since signing with Kansas City as a free agent in March.

After taking the last two games over the Braves with a combined 17 runs, the Mets continued to keep that offensive momentum going on Tuesday night in the series opener against Kansas City. However, Mets pitching just couldn’t shut down the Royals either as the two teams battled it out in a slugfest of a game. Between the two teams, they combined for 28 runs on 32 combined hits, but ultimately, the Royals came out on top 16-12.

For the Mets, AJ Ewing had the best game of his career, going 4-for-4 with a walk, three RBIs, and four runs scored on the day. It was his first four-hit game of his career.

The Mets wasted no time putting runs on the board as they put three up in the bottom of the first to open the scoring. AJ Ewing started things off with a lead-off single. Bo Bichette later singled and Carson Benge drove them both in and scored himself on three throwing errors on the same play to make it a 3-0 game early.

The Mets used Cionel Perez as an opener on the mound for Tuesday night’s game. After he got out of the first unscathed, Kodai Senga came in in the second and his pitching woes continued as he gave up a two-run home run from Tyler Tolbert to make it a 3-2 game.

The Mets answered back in the bottom of the inning as Ewing struck for his two-run home to pad the Mets’ lead at 5-2.

After it appeared Senga could’ve been settling in in the third, he gave up another two runs in the fourth. After giving up three walks and a single to load the bases, Lane Thomas hit a two-RBI double to bring Kansas City back within one, 5-4.

Once again, the Mets fired right back in the bottom of the fourth. After singles by Jared Young and Luis Torrens, Ewing had his third hit of the inning and scored Baty. Juan Soto then stayed hot and came up with a three-run home run that made it a 9-4 game.

But the wheels on the bus fell off at Citi Field in the fifth as the Royals scored five in the inning off of Austin Warren, who relieved Senga, to tie the game 9-9 through five. It was a horrific outing for Warren as he allowed six straight batters to reach on three doubles, a hit by pitch, a single, and a walk. Five of them scored, some once Huascar Brazoban came in.

After Brazoban pitched a scoreless sixth, the Mets brought in Matt Seelinger to make his Mets debut in the seventh, one that he will hope to forget, giving up seven runs to give the Royals a 16-9 lead. He allowed eight to reach in the inning as the Royals batted around and hit two doubles and a big home run, among four walks and a single that all added up to the Royals driving seven across.

The Royals’ Tyler Tolbert also made history in the seventh as he hit his 12^th consecutive hit, becoming just the fifth player in MLB history to get a hit in 12 straight at-bats. His streak later ended in the ninth on a fly-out.

With more efforts from Benge and Ewing, they got the score to be within four, but they went on to drop the series opener in a wild 16-12 loss to the Royals.

Player of the Game

AJ Ewing’s 4-for-4 day with three RBIs and four runs scored makes him Tuesday’s player of the game.

On Deck

The Mets will hope to get some rest after a wild game one before the two teams continue their series with game two on Wednesday at 7:10 PM EDT. Christian Scott will be on the mound Wednesday night when the series continues.