Adam Ottavino wanted to spot a sinker down and away but instead uncorked a pitch that caught too much of the plate and sunk the Mets.
Ottavino served up the game-winning solo home run to Nolan Arenado in the top of the ninth inning Sunday as the Mets wasted a four-run comeback and lost 8-7 to the Cardinals on Father’s Day at Citi Field.
It was the second late-game, head-to-head matchup in as many days between the two former Rockies teammates.
“The cat-and-mouse [game] is always there, especially with a guy that you know,” Ottavino said. “I chose wrong.”
One of the many issues with the Mets is that Buck Showalter continues to manage like his two high-leverage right-handed relievers are interchangeable equals despite mounting evidence that David Robertson (1.72 ERA) is a superior option to Ottavino (4.13 ERA).
Pitching on three days’ rest, Robertson needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order in the eighth inning but was not given a chance to face the heart of the Cardinals’ lineup in the ninth.
Showalter said he would have considered sticking with Robertson if the Mets were off Monday instead of the possibility that he will be needed “to live to fight another day” against the Astros.
“He had warmed up the inning before, so it would have been like three ups,” Showalter said. “You are going to pay that price if you go down that road. Otto — like he was [Saturday] — was a good matchup there.”
The Mets used all five relievers available in a shorthanded bullpen, Showalter said, after starter Carlos Carrasco was knocked out after three innings. Reversing Ottavino — to face No. 8, 9 and 1 in the lineup — and Robertson might have made a strategic difference.
“We had to really piece it together,” Showalter said. “Everybody was physically equipped, and that’s what they were best called for to do in the batting order against the left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters.
They had done that job in their track record.
Just because the results weren’t what you wished for, he made one bad pitch and a good hitter hit another home run.”
Arenado homered earlier in the game off Carrasco but previously was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his career against Ottavino.
When Arenado turned around the 92 mph sinker, it was the first home run hit against Ottavino by a right-handed hitter this season and the first homer off his sinker since 2021.
“Sometimes you get beat by a great player and it really stinks in the moment, but I’ll come back with confidence the next time,” Ottavino said. “He’s one of my close friends in the game. It’s a great battle every time. I look forward to it … but [Saturday] went my way and [Sunday] went his way. That’s going to happen sometimes.”