Mets fall to Astros in extras after nearly three-hour rain delay as thin bullpen exposed again

Maybe the Mets were trying to lean into the symbolism.They dug a significant hole in the early going.They then turned to a relentless offense that swung them back into contention.But on Sunday, the Mets were not able to do what they have done often through the first half of the season: complete the comeback.

The Mets reached the midpoint of the season falling short in one more come-from-behind bid with a 10-5, 11-inning loss to the Astros in front of 26,853 at Citi Field.In Game 81 of the season, the Mets (40-41) snapped a streak of eight straight series without a series defeat.In the rubber game, they trailed the Astros by four, began the comeback in the sixth inning, tied it in the seventh but lost the contest in extra innings.Perhaps the storm that rolled through before the bottom of the ninth and prompted a 2-hour, 47-minute delay cooled off a red-hot club.Each team scored once in the 10th — Houston on a Chas McCormick single off Adam Ottavino, the Mets on a double from Brandon Nimmo — before the Mets’ thin bullpen became evident in the 11th.Matt Festa, a 31-year-old Brooklyn native making his club debut after a call-up earlier in the day, allowed three straight well-struck singles that helped the Astros create distance.

Houston’s fourth hit of the frame, a Trey Cabbage double that knocked in two more, essentially put the game away.In the bottom of the inning, Tyrone Taylor, Luis Torrens and Jeff McNeil went down in order against Houston’s Luis Contreras, bringing the Mets to two games back of the Cardinals for an NL wild-card spot.The Mets finished a 3-2 homestand on a down note before they head to Washington for a series that begins Monday.Until the ending, the game mirrored a season in which the Mets lost their first five games and fell to 11 games under .500 this month before MLB’s best offense during June fueled a comeback.“Interesting,” Mendoza said, to laughs, before the game in summing up the first half.“We’ve been through a lot.

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