3 Mets red flags in Sunday’s loss that need correcting to make the playoffs

3) The Mets relievers were wild, sloppy, and slightly mismanaged

The Marlins scored on a sacrifice fly, wild pitch, and a single. This doesn’t exactly explain the issue.

The wild pitch is self-explanatory. The single was the real killer.

Three walks in the inning by Reed Garrett led to the game-winning single off the bat of Derek Hill. The lone run of the game scored by the Marlins off of a hit, Garrett’s return from the IL hasn’t gone as well as we had hoped. Tagged with his second loss in as many appearances, Garrett is now looking at the possibility of losing his roster spot—at least temporarily.

Paul Blackburn delivered what has become a specialty of his: 6 innings and 1 earned run. He had a fine game for the Mets. At 92 pitches and with the relievers virtually absent from the series outside of Jose Butto on Friday for two innings, it was sensible for the Mets to call upon the bullpen to close this one out.

If there is one criticism to make of the bullpen usage it would be going to Garrett before Phil Maton. Once they had already committed to Garrett, asking Edwin Diaz to complete the 8th wouldn’t have been so bad either. He hasn’t pitched in a Mets game with the game tied or New York leading since August 7th against the Colorado Rockies.

The Mets bullpen may soon have one of their best reinforcements back, Dedniel Nunez. After this game, he can’t come back fast enough.