Frankie Montas' strong debut squandered by Mets' bullpen in latest loss to Braves

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Jun 24, 2025

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — The Frankie Montas era got off to a scorching start.

Pitching in the hottest game in Citi Field history, Montas hurled five scoreless innings in his long-awaited Mets debut.

But the Mets’ lead melted away the moment Montas left Tuesday night’s game, as a back-breaking bullpen implosion keyed a 7-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta tagged three relievers during a five-run sixth inning, dealing the Mets (46-34) their 10th loss in 11 games.

Five of those defeats have come against the rival Braves (37-41).

The Mets led 3-0 going into the sixth, but reliever Huascar Brazobán walked the first three batters of the inning.

Ozzie Albies followed with a sacrifice fly, and after left-hander José Castillo replaced Brazobán, the Braves tied the game with RBI singles from Eli White and Nick Allen.

Reed Garrett entered and struck Ronald Acuña Jr. out with the bases loaded for the second out of the inning. But Matt Olson fought back from an 0-2 count to line a two-run single against Garrett, giving Atlanta a 5-3 lead.

Many within a crowd of 38,130 booed as the inning unfolded, and they remained restless in the bottom of the sixth as Pete Alonso, Starling Marte and Luis Torrens each struck out.

The Mets managed five hits on Tuesday and are averaging 3.1 runs per game over their last 11.

Their bullpen has a 6.60 ERA over that stretch.

The cold streak has overlapped with an extreme heat wave in New York City. Tuesday’s game had a first-pitch temperature of 97 degrees — the highest for a Mets game in Queens since a 98-degree scorcher at Shea Stadium on Aug. 9, 2001.

The heat didn’t dispirit Montas, whom the Mets signed in the offseason to a two-year, $34 million contract.

A spring-training lat strain delayed Montas’ season debut by three months, but the right-hander was in midseason form Tuesday, deploying a five-pitch mix that included a four-seam fastball and a sinker that both maxed out at 98 mph.

Montas recorded five strikeouts, including one in the third inning against Marcell Ozuna that stranded runners at second and third.

Acuña struck out twice against Montas, who worked around three hits and three walks over 80 pitches.

Montas had struggled in six minor-league rehab starts, going 0-3 with a 12.05 ERA, but he told the New York Daily News this week that he felt ready for Tuesday’s game.

“I was not really thinking about the numbers and all that,” Montas said. “I was just trying to get my pitch count up and work on the pitches. At the end of the day, they didn’t sign me to pitch in the minor leagues. They signed me to pitch here in the big leagues and help as much as I can.”

The Mets liked what they saw from Montas’ final tuneup last Wednesday, when he allowed five runs in five innings over 80 pitches for Triple-A Syracuse.

“He probably got a little fatigued as he got into the fifth, but we saw the stuff package for the first three or four innings of that game that we wanted to see,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said before Tuesday’s game.

Montas was in line for the win when he exited Tuesday’s start, as Jeff McNeil’s sacrifice fly and Brett Baty’s two-run single fueled a three-run fourth inning against Braves starter Spencer Strider.

But the Braves scored seven runs in four innings against the Mets’ bullpen, as Olson added an eighth-inning RBI double against Richard Lovelady and Austin Riley did the same against Dedniel Núñez.

Since erupting for seven homers, 11 runs and 15 hits in Saturday’s win in Philadelphia — which snapped a seven-game losing streak — the Mets have totaled seven runs and 15 hits in the last three games, all losses.

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