Mets bullpen, defense falls short in loss to Astros to drop series

Abbey Mastracco, New York Daily News on Aug 30, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

NEW YORK — It was only a matter of time before the Mets‘ bullpen fell back to earth. The new relievers excelled after the trade deadline, and while it hasn’t quite broken, it appears as though it’s starting to bend.

It sure did Sunday in the series finale against the Houston Astros at Citi Field. Left-hander Zac Thornton handed a one-run lead over to Jonathan Pintaro in the top of the sixth, only for the right-hander to give up a two-run homer. Left-hander Jefry Yan struggled with his command in the seventh, loading the bases with one out, and an error by first baseman Jared Young cost two runs.

The Mets lost 6-3, dropping their third straight series.

“Bullpens give up runs periodically,” said interim manager Andy Green. “We’ve lived in a world where they haven’t given up hardly any runs for a long period of time, at least when we’ve had a lead, and that’s what you want. Pintaro’s good. He’s got the capacity to get lefties out consistently, but he left the pitch where he didn’t want to, and kind of paid the price for that one.”

Jeremy Peña, the first batter of the game, homered off Thornton in the first, and the Mets came right back in the bottom of the first to give him a lead with back-to-back homers off right-hander Ethan Pecko. For Francisco Lindor, it was his 14th of the season, and it was Juan Soto’s first since coming off the injured list with a left calf strain Saturday, and his 22nd on the year.

They manufactured another run in the fourth inning, when A.J. Ewing walked, stole second and reached third base on a ball overthrown by the catcher. After Marcus Semien walked, Ewing scored on a double play by Luis Torrens.

The Houston lineup was a battle for Thornton. There were long at-bats, with the Astros forcing the rookie to throw a lot of pitches, and he ended up in an early two-out jam. That came in the second inning, when he allowed another run before retiring Yordan Alvarez, one of the leading candidates for AL MVP.

Alvarez went 0 for 3 with a strikeout against Thornton.

“To his credit, he got him with sweepers the first time, and his next time through, there was real attack with a fastball,” Green said. “I think Yordan is really smart and knows what he’s doing up there. So for a young pitcher to attack him multiple ways, get him to expand on the slider the first at-bat, and then attack him with velo in the second at-bat … I think some credit goes to Zac for showing some adjustability against one of the best hitters in the league.”

Thornton gave up two earned runs on six hits, and struck out five, using 97 pitches over five innings.

“They’re pesky, and those were pesky at-bats,” Thornton said. “Just trying my hardest to throw good, good putaway pitches, and they were hitting them.”

The Mets took three runs off Pecko (1-0), two earned, over five innings.

Pintaro (2-1) got the first two outs of the sixth inning before giving up a double to Yainer Diaz. LaMonte Wade Jr. pinch-hit a home run to put the Astros up 4-3, and AJ Blubaugh pitched around a one-out double in the bottom of the frame to keep the lead intact.

After getting the first out in the seventh, Yan loaded the bases by walking Isaac Paredes, giving up a single to Jose Altuve and hitting Jordan Walker with a pitch. He got Daulton Varsho to roll over on a sinker, sending a chopper to Young at first base, but Young’s throw home sailed well over Torrens’ head.

Paredes was safe, and Altuve had plenty of time to come home from third.

“That play was handled correctly from a decision-making standpoint,” Green said. “Not from an execution standpoint.”

The ball took Young right to the bag, and Varsho, a good runner, was right in front of him as he tried to throw home. Maybe a more experienced first baseman makes that play, but still, it was a tough angle with the runner in the way, and Young had to get the throw off quickly.

“It’s kind of harsh to say you just throw it right through the runner and expect people to move out of the way because that’s what happens, and I think that does mess people up sometimes having the runner in the path,” Green said. “But he’s just got to turn it loose, and he knows that. Had that ball not taken him directly to first and been more straight-up, he would have just gone straight to the plate from his angle.”

Blubaugh, Bryan Abreu and Steven Okert blanked the Mets in the seventh and eighth, setting up left-handed closer Josh Hader for the save (21).

The Mets begin a three-game series in St. Petersburg on Monday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

____