Mets look to avoid late collapse and end slide against Giants……….

Mets look to avoid late collapse and end slide against Giants.

The San Francisco Giants performed an unprecedented feat Friday night. Unfortunately, the New York Mets followed suit. The Giants will aim to keep their momentum going, while the Mets will try to snap their long losing streak Saturday afternoon as San Francisco visits New York in the middle game of a three-game series. Jordan Hicks (4-1, 2.38 ERA) will start for the Giants against Luis Severino (2-2, 3.48), a right-handed pitcher.

The Giants produced another multi-run comeback Friday night, with Patrick Bailey hitting a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning before holding off the Mets’ ninth-inning effort to win 8-7. The Giants trailed 6-2 into the eighth inning before scoring five runs, all with two outs, against Reed Garrett, who had allowed only six runs (three earned) in his first 18 outings before Friday. Thairo Estrada hit an RBI double, and Matt Chapman walked seven pitches before Bailey blasted his first career grand slam on a 2-0 fastball.

The Giants won their third game in a row, coming back from four-run deficits in each. San Francisco trailed by five runs in the fourth inning of a 9-5, 10-inning triumph against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday before rallying for five runs in the eighth inning of a 7-6 victory Thursday afternoon. It marks the first time in the Giants’ 142-year existence that they have won three consecutive games after trailing by at least four runs. San Francisco is the first club to accomplish the feat since the then-Florida Marlins achieved it against the Giants on August 9-11, 1999.

“Obviously, we’ve put ourselves in some of these situations and not been able to, you know, finish out games or put teams away — whether it’s been defensively or whatever it is — but I think we learned from it,” Chapman stated. “We keep growing, we pick each other up and I think that’s huge.” The Mets suffered their fourth straight loss, and their third in a row with three home runs. The latter is the team’s first such streak, and the sixth in baseball history.

Despite going deep three times in Tuesday’s 7-6 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, New York never took the lead. Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and Harrison Bader each blasted solo home runs on Wednesday, and the Guardians scored the final six runs for a 6-3 victory. Alonso, Vientos, and J.D. Martinez homered to give the Mets a 6-2 lead Friday, but the Giants rallied to send New York to 9-21 since April 20.

“You need to turn it around or the season will get away from you in a hurry,” Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo stated. “We’ll just try to be optimistic in here. We’re going to attempt to keep battling and come prepared to win and play tomorrow.” Hicks won last Sunday, allowing one run over five innings in the Giants’ 4-1 triumph over the Colorado Rockies. He has nine career appearances (two starts) versus the Mets, going 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA and four saves.

Severino did not factor into the decision in his most recent start on May 18, when he allowed five runs in 6 2/3 innings as the Mets lost 10-9 to the Miami Marlins in 10 innings. On April 23, Severino lost his first career game against the Giants, allowing three runs over six innings in the Mets’ 5-1 loss.