Six outs from evening World Series, Mets implode in 5-3 loss
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Version 0 of 1. NEW YORK — There it was, the World Series tied up. Six outs remained. The New York Mets led by a run. Citi Field rocked. Momentum had shifted. And Tyler Clippard took the mound. This was the eighth inning of Game 4 Saturday night, the Kansas City Royals seemingly knocked back a bit. Clippard, the longtime Washington Nationals setup man, got the first out. He then lost the strike zone. He issued one walk, then another. Mayhem. “Any time you get that deep into the game and you’ve got the lead, you expect to win,” Clippard said. “And we didn’t.” The Royals are here for a reason, and for all the assessment of their physical skills — their lockdown bullpen and their bat-on-ball hitters — one trait might trump all. The Royals are cigarette butts that can’t be stamped out, birthday candles that keep re-lighting. Their response, with five outs to go: two walks, a fortuitous error from New York’s postseason folk hero, then a pair of run-scoring singles. The one-run deficit became a two-run lead, and the ensuing 5-3 victory gives them complete control of a series that seemed to be tipping the other way — a 3-1 advantage with Game 5 Sunday night, right here. “It’s experience,” Royals Manager Ned Yost said. “It’s character. It’s a group of really, really talented players. But a lot of it I think is a mindset. We’re in the biggest stage that you can play in front of, and these guys are totally confident in their abilities.” The Mets could say the same. But Clippard and Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy, his six-homers-in-six-games stretch seemingly long ago, drove away from Citi Field knowing their abilities did not match their performance Saturday. Clippard’s walks of Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain put the tying and winning runs aboard, and Murphy’s booting of Eric Hosmer’s slow roller — yes, it’s okay to say it was reminiscent of Bill Buckner — flipped the script. “Daniel Murphy didn’t lose this game,” Mets captain David Wright said. “This was a collective team loss.” [Thomas Boswell on Daniel Murphy and his game-turning error] And this, now, is a collective team deficit, because Wright’s 14th-inning error in Game 1 led to the winning run in the Mets’ first devastating loss. That comeback stunned the Mets. This comeback could kill them. They appeared ready to toast two solo homers by rookie left fielder Michael Conforto and what, to that point, had been superior relief pitching. But the anatomy of the eighth inning is ugly, with Clippard as its central figure, but with others playing supporting roles. Mets Manager Terry Collins had been asked, time and again, about his level of confidence in his bridge from his young fire-balling starters to his closer, the dominant Jeurys Familia. What could Collins say? If the Mets were to win this World Series, he would have to get key outs from Addison Reed, acquired in an August trade with Arizona, and Clippard, acquired a month earlier from Oakland. Reed did his job Saturday night, pitching a perfect seventh in relief of Jonathan Niese and Bartolo Colon, who had combined to help rookie starter Steven Matz get out of the sixth. The lead was 3-2, and Clippard came in. The 30-year-old free-agent-to-be has been especially shaky for more than a month. He had allowed five extra-base hits in his seven postseason appearances, which continued a disturbing trend. In his final dozen outings of the regular season, Clippard had allowed runs six times, posted a 7.11 ERA, and coughed up four homers. Collins’s thinking was clear: He might need Familia for Game 5, so he was reluctant to ask him to get six outs. But if the tying run reached base, Clippard would be out, Familia in. Clippard got Alcides Escobar on a tapper back to the mound. “One thing he doesn’t do,” Collins said, “he doesn’t walk a lot of guys. And we don’t walk a lot of guys — period.” But Clippard fell behind Zobrist 2-0, and he was never really in the at-bat. He missed with two fastballs, and Zobrist was on. That brought up Lorenzo Cain, a right-handed hitter. He jumped ahead 0-2, then watched as Cain fouled off a 1-2 changeup, Clippard’s signature pitch. “The Cain at-bat was the one I’m most disappointed in,” Clippard said. “Got him 0-2, and didn’t really put him away like I normally should. It’s disappointing.” At 2-2, he tried to get a groundball with a slider that missed. Full count, he came with the changeup. Cain walked. Two on, one out. “It’s certainly one of those situations where we couldn’t stop the bleeding,” Collins said. It may have bled them to death. Collins turned to Familia, who got the result he wanted from Hosmer — a bouncer toward Murphy at second. Though he wouldn’t have had time to turn two, he could have easily retired Hosmer at first and left it to Familia to get just one out. Mets fans, of course, revel in the replays of Buckner, the Red Sox first baseman, allowing Mookie Wilson’s dribbler to go through his legs in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, which New York came back and won. Now, the Mets will have to overcome a similar gaffe, because the ball went under Murphy’s glove — and Zobrist scored the tying run. “I misplayed it,” Murphy said. “There’s no excuse for it. And we lost the ballgame because of it.” [Noah Syndergaard’s brushback in Game 3 gives Series a fiery tenor] The loss actually was solidified in the ensuing two at-bats, a run-scoring single from Mike Moustakas to take the lead, another from Salvador Perez to provide the pad run. Before the Mets could realize they were no longer protecting a lead, but trying to chase one down, Royals closer Wade Davis was in the game to get the final six outs — the last two when Yoenis Cespedes wandered too far from first and was doubled up on a liner to Moustakas. “It’s just kind of how the ball bounced today,” Moustakas said. “It kind of rolled right for us.” Just Saturday? No. This series, this season, has a feeling now. The Mets have, in fact, been in position to win three of the first four games. Yet they now must try to become the first team to overcome a three-games-to-one deficit World Series since — wait for it — the 1985 Royals. How and why? “They’re as cool as cucumbers,” Yost said. So, too, is the ice that will cover the champagne sitting outside the Royals’ clubhouse Sunday night, waiting for what feels inevitable. More coverage: Box score: Royals 5, Mets 3 Boswell: Murphy’s flaw turns the tide for New York Syndergaard’s brushback stirs some bad blood Harper wins Hank Aaron Award for outstanding offensive player |