Jeurys Familia walked off the mound with an unfamiliar feeling on Wednesday night. Although he blew three saves during the World Series, the Mets’ All-Star closer had not done so in the regular season since July 30, 2015. Entering the ninth inning with a one-run lead against the St. Louis Cardinals, Familia had converted 52 consecutive save chances — the third-longest streak in history.
Familia walked a tightrope and survived many times this season, but he finally stumbled, allowing two runs in a 5-4 loss at Citi Field that negated Yoenis Cespedes’s dramatic, go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh, which had felt like the game’s turning point.
“This is a really tough one to take,” Manager Terry Collins said.
The inning unfolded like others this season for Familia. He got Matt Adams to line out but walked Jedd Gyorko on four pitches. Familia had escaped these situations before and used his trademark sinker hoping to get Yadier Molina to ground into a double play. Instead, Molina doubled in a run.
“I leave it a little bit in the middle, he made a good swing, and that’s it,” said Familia, who later allowed the decisive, go-ahead double to Kolten Wong.
So often this season, the Mets have been betrayed by their offense and boosted by their bullpen, but the reverse happened on Wednesday. Still, Cespedes’s home run against Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals starter, could be a sign that he is poised to carry the offense, as he did last season.
Still stuck in third place in the National League East, the Mets remain a game and a half out of the second wild-card spot — despite their woefully underperforming offense.
But as he said earlier this week, General Manager Sandy Alderson said he believed that a big move would be unlikely before the nonwaiver trading deadline on Aug. 1, and he said the Mets’ most realistic upgrade would be acquiring a strong reliever.
Although the Mets have one of the worst offenses in baseball, Collins felt the roster had the players with past track records to improve, and he told the team that before Monday’s series opener.
“So quit looking at the outside and look at the inside and look at what we’ve got to do with guys in this room to get it done,” Collins said he told players. “They’re here. We’ve just got to go out and execute.”
The Mets did not lose Wednesday because of starter Logan Verrett. Since Matt Harvey’s season-ending injury, Verrett has been the fifth starter, and for his third consecutive start he did not allow more than three runs. He ate up seven innings and left the game with the Mets trailing, 3-1.
Until the seventh inning Wednesday night, the Mets’ offense showed few signs of breaking out. They had put nine runners on base against Wainwright, one of the best starters in baseball this month, and had scored only one run.
The Mets rallied with singles by Travis d’Arnaud and pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza. D’Arnaud scored on a wild pitch, but the top-of-the-order hitters, Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera, struck out, and it felt like a replay of much of the season.
But Cespedes battled Wainwright for nine pitches, fouling off three straight. Forcing Wainwright to work, Cespedes’s patience paid off.
The last pitch of the at-bat was a curveball that Wainwright threw over the middle of the plate. Cespedes had not hit a home run since July 5. Wainwright had not allowed one since May 28. But Cespedes’s powerful swing sent the ball 439 feet to left-center field for a 4-3 lead, and the game felt secure with the dominant bullpen duo of Addison Reed and Familia.
“I can’t say 100 percent because it’s baseball and until the 27th out you don’t know, but with the confidence we have in Familia, I thought so,” Cespedes said.
Reed tossed a perfect eighth, but Familia struggled. After the game, Familia was optimistic about one blip in an otherwise strong season.
“What I’ve done so far, I never in my life think I’m going to do in the big leagues,” he said.
As Familia continued talking to reporters, Alderson appeared in the clubhouse to shake his hand and congratulate him on the historic streak. Familia thanked him and returned to his thought.
“I know sometimes things aren’t always going to go the way I want them,” Familia said. “Things happen. Tomorrow is a new day.”
INSIDE PITCH
The Mets were without third baseman Jose Reyes because of a left intercostal muscle strain he sustained in the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader. Wilmer Flores, who has recently started only against left-handers, was in Wednesday’s lineup instead. “I hope it’s going to be a few days,” Reyes said. He received treatment on Wednesday, and Terry Collins indicated he would be cautious about using him on Thursday.
