The New York Mets have a mediocre 24-35 record and have lost seven of their last 10 games.
By now, it’s evident that the bullpen has been their weakest link in recent games.
First, it was Edwin Diaz, who blew multiple saves before landing on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.
Then, his replacements haven’t been able to offer much more stability in the late innings, resulting in blown leads and losses.
The Mets are 17th among 30 MLB teams with a 3.92 bullpen ERA, or in other words, in the middle of the pack.
However, since May 1, the relievers have an awful 5.01 ERA that ranks 27th in the league.
On Sunday, their bullpen ruined yet another game and it resulted in a Mets loss.
It has been a common occurrence since that cutoff date of May 1.
“That’s the sixth time since May 1st that the Mets have lost a game when leading after eight innings. No other team in the majors has more than two,” Mets insider Steve Gelbs tweeted.
With the Mets leading 4-3 in the top of the ninth, the Arizona Diamondbacks jumped on Jake Diekman as Ketel Marte homered off him with a man on base, flipping the score to 5-4 in favor of the snakes.
Paul Sewald then finished off the Mets and nailed down the save.
It seems like every reliever on the Mets has hit a wall.
Diaz was awful before getting hurt, Reed Garrett isn’t the pitcher he was in the first few weeks, Diekman allowed the game-changing homer, Jorge Lopez was designated for assignment, and other pitchers have gotten injured.
As Gelbs suggests, no Mets lead is safe, and they comfortably lead the league in losses when leading after the first eight innings.
