Most of the talk surrounding the Mets’ trade deadline activity was positive. And rightfully so.
As the Mets rallied from two down to tie it in the eighth and new acquisition Ryan Helsley — a two-time All-Star closer with the Cardinals — struck out three in a scoreless ninth, it looked like the Mets’ first game after the trade deadline could be a magical one.
But former Met Dominic Smith hit a 10th-inning RBI single off Edwin Diaz to give the Giants the lead, and the Mets could not produce the tying run with the top of their order up in a 4-3 loss in front of 42,777 at a sold-out Citi Field on Friday night.
In the 10th, Brandon Nimmo and Juan Soto each popped out to second, Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch with one out and Pete Alonso walked to load the bases with two outs for Ronny Mauricio.
Mauricio struck out swinging as Randy Rodriguez secured the save.
The Mets (62-48) fell a half-game back of the Phillies (62-47), who beat the Tigers, 5-4, on Friday, in the NL East.
With one out in the eighth, Nimmo worked a walk and Lindor hit a single. Soto then hit a single off Joey Lucchesi’s foot that trickled into leftfield, scoring Nimmo to cut the Mets’ deficit to 3-2.
Jose Butto — whom the Mets traded to the Giants (55-55) in a package for submariner Taylor Rogers — came on to face Alonso, who hit a sac fly to tie it at 3. Mauricio, pinch-hitting for Starling Marte, walked to bring up Brett Baty, who pinch-hit for Mark Vientos. Baty grounded out to third to end the inning.
Helsley made his Mets debut in a 3-3 game in the ninth, walking onto the field to “Hells Bells” by AC/DC. He worked around a one-out single by Patrick Bailey and a two-out single by Rafael Devers.
The Mets went down in order to end the ninth inning, with Cedric Mullins popping up to third baseman Matt Chapman in his first Mets at-bat.
Alonso gave the Mets life with a 414-foot solo shot to leadoff the seventh, clobbering a 2-and-0 fastball into the Giants bullpen to cut it to 3-1. It was Alonso’s 249th career homer, moving him within three of Darryl Strawberry for the franchise’s all-time record.
David Peterson allowed four hits and two earned runs — both in the second inning — in a six-inning start, striking out four and walking two.
Ryne Stanek allowed the Giants’ third run in the seventh. Jung Hoo Lee hit a leadoff double and scored on Patrick Bailey’s one-out double.
Jeff McNeil hit a two-out double later in the seventh but was stranded there after Luis Torrens’ lineout to right.
The Giants took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Matt Chapman had a leadoff walk, Wilmer Flores singled and Casey Schmitt roped a double to score Chapman. Lee’s 6-3 groundout plated Flores.
Giants lefthander Robbie Ray retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced and did not allow a hit untilVientos’ one-out single in the fifth. Vientos extended his hitting streak to a career-high-tying 10 games. Torrens added a two-out single in the fifth, but Tyrone Taylor grounded out to end the inning.
Ray allowed four hits over seven innings of one-run ball.
McNeil’s leadoff walk in the third gave the Mets their first baserunner, but Torrens struck out looking and Taylor hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.