Tigers sweep split doubleheader at Comerica Park, Mets have lost 8 of last 10 games

DETROIT — When the top of the fifth inning began, the Mets were behind 4-2. One sudden downpour, two outfield errors and a Francisco Lindor home run later, the sun was out and the Mets were on top 5-4.

But then the stormclouds returned and the sky darkened once again, almost as though it was an ominous foretelling of the Mets’ eventual fate. Adam Ottavino blew a save in the first game and Max Scherzer (2-2) failed to get out of the fourth inning in the second game of a doubleheader, and the Detroit Tigers swept the doubleheader Wednesday at Comerica Park.

The Mets (16-15) fell to the Tigers 6-5 in the first game and 8-1 in the second. They’ve now lost eight of their last 10.

Scherzer made his first start since April 19, when he was ejected after three shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers for a sticky substance. That ejection carried a 10-game suspension and while Scherzer said he came into the game feeling great physically after the long layoff, it didn’t show in the results.

“I just didn’t do a good job of locating,” Scherzer said. “I was spraying the ball in the first and I didn’t pitch well out of the stretch. That’s kind of symptomatic of — when you have a long layoff, that’s kind of one of the first things that goes is pitching out of the stretch. I feel like that’s where some of the mistakes were and where I got beat. That’s the adjustment I’ve got to make.”

The Tigers (12-17) took two runs off of their former ace in the first inning and one more in the second when Eric Haase hit a leadoff homer. Haase hit the Mets hard Wednesday, homering twice and driving in six runs.

Matt Vierling took Scherzer deep for a two-run shot in the fourth. He was removed with runners on the corners and one out and replaced by left-hander Zach Muckenhirn, who made his MLB debut. Muckenhirn allowed an inherited runner to score before getting an inning-ending double play.

Scherzer gave up six earned runs in a regular season game for the first time since July 8, 2021 (seven in San Diego as a member of the Washington Nationals). He also gave up seven in his NL Wild Card start last October.

Michael Lorenzen (1-1) limited the Mets to one run on four hits over seven innings.

With Ottavino (0-2) trying to hold a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning of the first game, Vierling hit a fly ball to right field and Starling Marte failed to get to it, letting it drop for a single. He then hit former Mets infielder Javier Baez to put two on with one out and the second out of the inning advanced the runners.

Haase singled up the center to score both runners and doom the Mets.

“I had Javier in a good spot to get him out and missed really bad there,” Ottavino said. “The first pitch, I tried to go in to Haase and left it over the plate.”

Vierling’s fly ball had a 90% catch probability, but Marte dropped was playing back too far to be able to run it down.

The bullpen had to pick up five innings in relief of left-hander Joey Lucchesi, who put the Mets in a 3-0 hole in the bottom of the first. Home runs by Tommy Pham and Mark Canha in the second inning cut the lead to one, but Baez teed off on Lucchesi’s churve to lead off the third inning. It was the first pitch of the inning and even after he retired the next three hitters, he showed some frustration coming off the field. After pitching what he called the best game of his career in his return from Tommy John surgery two weeks ago, Lucchesi has yet to repeat that performance.

“I didn’t pitch all that great,” Lucchesi said. “I feel like, if you take away the Haase home run — the three-run home run — it would have been a totally different outing and I could have gone longer, maybe.”

Lucchesi allowed five earned runs on four hits and struck out only one. Manager Buck Showalter said he was removed from the game after just 46 pitches because they were confident with right-hander Jimmy Yacabonis in that spot, but with an opening in the rotation Sunday the team is thinking of potentially having him make a start on short rest.

This ended a streak of 25 straight doubleheaders without being swept, ending the longest such stretch in franchise history.

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