BOSTON — Time is running out for the Mets to prove that the front office should invest in this season’s team and buy at the trade deadline on Aug. 1.
The Mets’ 6-1 loss to the Red Sox on Sunday night was the latest blow to the thought that the Mets would be willing to leverage a piece of their future in exchange for a player or players to try and increase their chances of reaching the playoffs this season.
“The game just ended. If we would have won today, maybe we can be buyers, so I don’t really know,” Mark Canha said. “I don’t want to speculate. Who knows?”
Carlos Carrasco was battered for five earned runs on 10 hits in 2⅓ innings, and the Mets’ offense only collected one run on six hits in a Red Sox bullpen game, starting with journeyman Brennan Bernardino. The Red Sox, meanwhile, collected seven hits in a row in the third inning.
The Mets dropped the series and fell to seven games under .500 at 46-53 with the Subway Series coming up as an important barometer less than a week from the deadline.
“That’s true last year, this year,” Buck Showalter of the importance of the Subway Series. “You try not to place too much on one thing, but I understand the sense of urgency, so do the players. Tonight, we get that short of a start, we were really hoping to win the series here. It’s just a challenge.”
Carlos Carrasco crushed
Carrasco turned in his worst outing of the season at an inopportune time.
In the bottom of the inning, Carrasco was lucky to limit the damage. He gave up a leadoff single to Jarren Duran and the Red Sox leadoff hitter looked to advance to a vacated third base on a slow chopper to Brett Baty. After Duran collided with Carrasco at third base, Pete Alonso’s throw wandered into foul territory. Mark Canha rifled a throw home and Omar Narvaez tagged Duran for the second out.
Carrasco walked back-to-back batters and gave up an RBI single to Adam Duvall before ending the inning with a strikeout of Triston Casas.
But Carrasco wasn’t as lucky in the bottom of the fourth inning. He gave up six straight hits, including doubles to Justin Turner and Duvall, as the Red Sox increased their lead to 5-0.
“The problem was I got behind in the count and I just had to throw strikes,” Carrasco said. “That’s what happens when you get behind in the count and you hope to start throwing strikes, that’s what you get paid for.”
The Red Sox final two runs came against Drew Smith: an RBI single to Yu Chang and Connor Wong crossing on a wild pitch.
Since throwing eight scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks on July 6, Carrasco has now given up nine earned runs in seven innings in his last two starts. He said he feels he might be working to find some of his pitches and his delivery.
Sunday’s outing was Carrasco’s shortest of the season and the most hits that he has given up since May 30, 2019.
“Just wasn’t very crisp, just struggled from the get-go,” Showalter said. “Certainly that play at third base didn’t help, but I think he was challenged before that too. We were hoping, obviously the doubleheader yesterday, we were pretty short in the bullpen. We were trying to get everything out of him.”
Mark Canha’s stellar defense
With the Green Monster lurking, occupying left field at Fenway Park is one of the most unique challenges in all of baseball.
Canha showcased an acquired knowledge from his seven years with the Athletics in the American League. In addition to throwing out Duran in the bottom of the first inning, Canha made two more outfield assists during Sunday night’s game.
“The only thing I can think of is just the knowledge that every play is going to be hustle on everything because it’s so tight in that left field corner that there could be opportunities where other places there isn’t. That’s the only things is just hustle after every play and run because you can open some chances to get assists where other places a ball bounces off the left-field wall in the corner, you’re probably not going to throw a guy out at second base.”
The Mets left fielder also caught Rafael Devers rounding third base a little too far for the first out in the bottom of the third inning. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Canha fielded a bouncing ball off the base of the Green Monster and threw out Casas as he tried to stretch a single into a double.
According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, it is the first time that the Mets have had three outfield assists since Endy Chavez on June 4, 2006.
“Tonight was a great example of why people like having Mark Canha on their time,” Showalter said. “He can play third, he can play first, he can play all three. He’s always ready. He anticipates things. That was a positive in a night where there weren’t many.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Carlos Carrasco battered for 10 hits in loss to Red Sox