As quickly and hopefully as it developed, the Mets’ sixth inning almost-rally fizzled and died.
Down 3-0 on Wednesday night in an eventual 5-0 loss against the Brewers in the second game of a doubleheader, New York began that sixth inning by negotiating three walks off Milwaukee reliever Brad Boxberger.
Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Jonathan Villar all took (or sprinted to) first base. The bases were loaded with no outs.
Francisco Lindor, Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso followed. All three struck out — Lindor looking, the other two swinging.
Over 36 pitches and one scoreless inning that was harder on the WHIP, Boxberger went BB-BB-BB-K-K-K.
“He came back. The guy’s got good stuff and he came back and started throwing strikes,” said Luis Rojas of Boxberger. “He was able to get three of our best hitters with bases loaded, no outs, so you’ve got to give the kudos to him for coming back in that situation.
After the wasted chance at getting back in the game, the Mets went 1-2-3 in the seventh and finished the game with only three hits, all singles.
The timely hitting in the first game on Wednesday — Jose Peraza’s game-tying home run and McNeil’s walk-off single — didn’t carry over to the night cap.
“Our guys have been really clutch in situations like this,” said Rojas. “There’s going to be some situations where we just don’t deliver the base hits. We just gotta tip our hat to the guy making the adjustment when he was pretty much cornered there.
“There’s nothing to say about our hitters. The guy came back and beat them. That’s it.”