None of that stopped either bullpen from getting stress-tested before it was over.
Cleveland scratched out a run in the 4th and multiplied it in the 5th and 7th to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth. A fielding error by Guardians shortstop Brayan Rocchio let the tying run score, and the Mets bullpen made sure it stuck. Extra innings decided the rest.
Bo Bichette's single in the top of the 10th brought home Francisco Lindor for the go-ahead run, and Cleveland couldn't answer in the bottom half. Brett Baty, Jorge Polanco and Carson Benge all went deep for New York — solo shots, all of them, the kind of game where the long ball keeps you connected even when nothing else is clicking. Cleveland got a genuine bright spot out of the loss: Angel Genao went 4-for-5 in his big league debut at third base.
The bigger picture still isn't pretty for New York. The Mets fired Carlos Mendoza mid-season and handed the job to interim manager Andy Green, and a $370M-plus payroll producing a sub-.500 record has made for one of the more disappointing stretches in recent franchise memory — even with Soto himself putting up a .947 OPS before the calf strain. Cleveland's story is the opposite kind of frustrating: they were leading the AL Central as late as mid-June before cooling off, and Bibee has quietly pitched better than his record most of the year after a brutal run-support drought early on.
Both clubs move on with the same questions they walked in with — can Cleveland get Ramirez all the way right, and can the Mets find any traction before the season's out of reach for good.