Rays Batter Manaea, Cruise Past Mets 6-2
Freddy Peralta was untouchable — 6.0 innings, 7 strikeouts, 1 earned run — and Tampa Bay's offense did the rest, piling up 11 hits against Sean Manaea to hand New York a 6-2 loss on September 1. The Mets had the lead for about three batters before the Rays turned this one into a rout.
Francisco Lindor gave the Mets a jolt in the first, sending a 367-foot shot to right to put New York up 1-0. It looked, briefly, like the kind of early punch that could rattle a home team. It didn't. Junior Caminero singled to left that same inning and Yandy Díaz scored to tie it at 1. From that point forward, the Mets never led again. In the third, Ryan Vilade singled to right, scoring Victor Mesa Jr. and moving Díaz to second — that play swung Tampa Bay's win probability from 64% to 75%, and it's hard to argue the game ever felt close after that.
The sixth inning is where Manaea's night fell apart completely. Nick Fortes doubled to left to score Simpson, making it 3-1. Walls followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Fortes for a 4-1 lead. Then Díaz crushed a 396-foot home run to left center to push it to 5-1. Three runs, three different ways to score them — that's a bad inning for any starter, and Manaea finished the night having allowed 11 hits and 5 earned runs over 5.2 innings with just 2 strikeouts. The story of the night was the mismatch between the two starters, and it wasn't subtle. Peralta allowed 3 hits and walked nobody. Kevin Kelly and Tyler Wells combined for 2.2 scoreless innings behind him to close it out.
The Mets scratched out a second run in the seventh when Lindor drew a walk to score Young, but that's the kind of consolation that doesn't change the conversation. Vilade added Tampa Bay's final run in the eighth on a fielder's choice that scored Mesa Jr., capping a 6-2 final. Vilade finished 2-for-5 with 2 RBI, Mesa Jr. went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored, and Díaz went 2-for-4 with a homer and 2 runs. It appears Tampa Bay got contributions up and down the lineup while New York's offense leaned almost entirely on one swing from Lindor. That's not a formula that works against a pitcher throwing like Peralta was tonight.