Mets can't come through with big hit, sunk by six-run sixth inning in 7-5 loss to Rays

The Mets snapped their six-game winning streak with a 7-5 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in the series opener on Friday night at Citi Field.

Here are some takeaways…

– The two teams were scoreless through three but then went back-and-forth trading runs in the middle innings. Tampa Bay broke through first as Jonathan Aranda jumped on an 0-2 slider and crushed it deep into the Coca-Cola Corner for the first run of the game.

– The Mets then answered back in each of the next two innings, taking advantage of some Rays sloppiness. First, they used a Taj Bradley fielding error to spark a two-run rally capped off by a Starling Marte RBI single and a Tyrone Taylor fielder’s choice.

An inning later, Bradley lost command, as three walks and another error chased him from the game. Former Mets farmhand Eric Orze entered and made his way two-thirds of the way through the inning before Marte came through with another two-out RBI knock.

Marte finished with three knocks and a season-high three RBI on the night.

– Other than the Aranda homer, Clay Holmes threw relatively well — the big right-hander allowed just that one run on three hits while walking two and striking out three across five innings of work, but was questionably pulled with just 79 pitches.

He’s now down to a strong 2.87 ERA and 1.17 WHIP over 14 outings on the year.

– Unfortunately, the bullpen was unable to back Holmes up — Paul Blackburn and Max Kranick combined to allow six runs on four hits, with the big ones being a Jake Mangum two-run single and Danny Jansen two-run homer to put the Rays back in front.

Kranick has now allowed four earned runs over his last four outings between the majors and Triple-A.

– The Mets had three golden opportunities to answer back — first in the seventh when Brett Baty came off the bench and drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs, but Edwin Uceta got Ronny Mauricio to weakly pop out to end the inning.

Uceta retired the next three batters after allowing a leadoff double to Francisco Alvarez in the eighth. Juan Soto had his chance representing the tying run and he scorched a 110.8 mph fly ball to deep right, but it was caught on the warning track.

The Mets then got the winning run to the plate with a single and a walk against closer Pete Fairbanks in the ninth, but a Baty groundout and Mauricio strikeout ended the game.

New York finished an ugly 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position on the night.

Game MVP: Danny Jansen

The veteran catcher’s two-run homer ended up being the difference in the ballgame.

Highlights

What’s next

The series continues on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. on SNY.

Tylor Megill (5-4, 3.76 ERA) takes the mound against ace right-hander Drew Rasmussen (5-4, 2.22 ERA).

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