Mets keeping cautious with Sean Manaea, bullpen blows up in second straight loss to Padres

SAN DIEGO — Sean Manaea gestured with his left index finger before undergoing one last umpire check for sticky stuff.

The Mets left-hander wanted one more frame after recording his 12th straight out to end the fifth inning.

Request denied by Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.

After Manaea was removed from the game, the Padres teed off on the Mets bullpen for six runs in a two-inning stretch as they dropped a second straight game, 7-1, in front of a sold-out crowd of 45,088 fans on Tuesday night at Petco Park.

"We had a pitch count limit, so I guess there's nothing I could really do," Manaea said about being pulled early.

The Mets' bullpen's latest collapse wasn't only the final concern for the Mets, who saw Juan Soto exit the game before the bottom of the fourth inning with a left foot contusion after fouling a pitch off his foot. Soto is considered day-to-day.

The Mets offense did not provide much backup. Starling Marte, who came on in right field after the fifth inning, delivered a sacrifice fly. The top four players in the Mets' lineup were 0-for-13 with two walks.

Mark Vientos supplied two of the Mets' four hits in the loss, which dropped the Mets to 62-46 and shaved their advantage in the National League East to a half game over the Phillies.

A careful approach with Sean Manaea

The Mets continue to be cautious with the southpaw, who completed his fourth appearance since returning from an oblique strain and the discovery of loose bodies in his throwing elbow.

Manaea finished with 86 pitches, with 23 in his final inning of work. He finished with one earned run allowed on three hits and five strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 2.08.

"We still kind of have an idea pitch count wise. We're still kind of on that build-up with him, so he reached that mark. The good news is that for him to be asking for one more, that tells you that he's feeling pretty good but we're not there yet with him."

"He threw 82 last time, but he was a lot better with the way the ball was coming out. That extra day this time around, the changeup was in play today, so overall, he looked really good."

The Padres' opening batter, Fernando Tatis Jr., scored the lone run off Manaea, singling up the middle and advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt and fly ball before crossing on a Jackson Merrill bloop RBI single that made it 1-0.

After that, Manaea erased a double by Jose Iglesias when he was able to cut down the former Met with a glove flip to home plate on a safety squeeze two batters later. It kicked off his effective closing stretch, including a more refined usage of his changeup.

"Just felt good. I feel like if I feel good with it then it's going to be an effective pitch," Manaea said. "We definitely started utilizing the second half today."

Jose Butto, Chris Devenski battered down stretch

On Sunday night, Jose Butto tossed a scoreless sixth inning and secured the win against the Giants after the Mets offense surged ahead.

Two night later, Butto endured a pair of rough frames that ended up dealing him a defeat. Butto entered in a 1-1 game in the bottom of the sixth inning and gave up a one-out single to Luis Arraez before Merrill bounced a triple over the head of Pete Alonso and down the right-field line to move the Padres ahead 2-1.

In next inning, Butto gave up back-to-back singles to Iglesias and Jake Cronenworth to lead off the frame before Elias Diaz, the Padres' walk-off hero on Monday, shot a two-run double to left field. Butto's night ended after he walked Arraez.

"He got ahead on Iglesias and then left a pitch, a breaking ball; we know Iggy, he's going to put the ball in play. Same thing with Diaz," Mendoza said. "Those guys, especially when you're ahead, you've got to make them chase or try to get the sinker to get a ground ball and he wasn't able to do that today."

In the opening at-bat of Chris Devenski's outing, Manny Machado gashed a three-run home run to left field on a hanging changeup.

Devenski was making his first appearance since signing a one-year deal with the Mets on Tuesday, leading to the demotion of Huascar Brazoban, who gave up one earned run on three hits one night earlier.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: After pulling Sean Manaea, bullpen blows up in loss to Padres