Missed opportunities and defensive lapses overshadowed a hot start as a barrage of Mets home runs and controversial officiating sent Detroit spiraling toward a frustrating series defeat.
There was a lot of ways to look at the game against the Mets today. One way is how the umps handled two different challenges, both of which favored New York and one that got A.J. Hinch ejected and showing a rare sight of pure anger and frustration.
Another way to look at those two same two plays is that Workman got a bad read on the ball and should have not been in that position in the first place and Wenceel Perez fell asleep at the wheel when he dove back to first. Regardless, it didn't matter, the Mets got five home runs from five different players and seven strong innings from Nolan McLean in a 9-4 win.
Detroit went 1-5 on the road trip and fell to 3-9 in May. The Tigers are now 19-25, and Thursday’s loss followed a familiar pattern from a rough stretch: an early lead, missed chances to add on and a pitching staff that could not keep the ball in the park.
The Tigers had the start they needed against Nolan McLean. Colt Keith walked in the first inning, Riley Greene singled him to third and Gage Workman followed with a three-run home run to left-center. For a team searching for any kind of momentum, it was the type of swing that should have given Keider Montero some breathing room.
Instead, the Mets chipped away and then took control.
A.J. Ewing hit his first career home run in the third inning to make it 3-1. In the fourth, Brett Baty tied the game with a two-run homer after MJ Melendez drew a two-out walk. The inning also included one of the turning points of the game, when Workman was thrown out at third on Zach McKinstry’s single to left. Detroit challenged the play, but the call was upheld, and Hinch was ejected shortly after.
The fifth inning was where the game got away from Detroit. Wenceel Pérez opened the inning with a single, but was picked off at first after a Mets challenge overturned the original call. In the bottom half, Carson Benge singled, stole second on another overturned call and later scored on Juan Soto’s RBI single off Tyler Holton. Mark Vientos followed with a two-run homer, turning a 3-3 game into a 6-3 Mets lead.
From there, New York kept adding on. Hayden Senger’s sacrifice bunt brought home Marcus Semien in the sixth, Soto homered in the seventh and Semien added another solo shot in the eighth. The Mets finished with five home runs from five different players, while Detroit’s staff allowed nine runs on 10 hits. Montero was charged with four runs over 4 2/3 innings, and the bullpen allowed five more.
Dillon Dingler gave Detroit its only run after the first inning with a solo homer in the eighth, his eighth of the season. Workman finished 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, while Greene reached base three times with two singles and a walk. But the Tigers did not do enough after the opening inning. They finished with seven hits, struck out nine times and left little margin for error once the Mets started hitting the ball out of the park.
For Detroit, the frustration was not just one call, one challenge or one defensive mistake. It was the whole combination. The Tigers had an early lead, lost outs on the bases, gave New York extra opportunities and then watched the Mets turn the game with power. On a road trip where Detroit needed to steady itself, the Tigers instead head home still looking for answers in the middle of a difficult May. Time is slipping for a turnaround.
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