Manaea continues troubling pattern: Strong start, rocky finish

ST. PETERSBURG -- From innings one through five, Sean Manaea surges.

In the sixth, he is left searching.

Manaea’s struggles in the sixth continued Tuesday in the Mets’ 6-2 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field.

“I don't really know what I’ve got to do, but I’ve got to figure something out and just try to salvage this season,” Manaea said about his recent string of starts where solid beginnings have been erased by rough finishes.

After allowing two runs through the first five frames against Tampa Bay, Manaea permitted three runs in the sixth to change the complexion of the game. The Rays hit for the cycle in the inning, with Nick Fortes’ RBI double and Yandy Díaz’s solo homer being the most consequential knocks. Ryan Vilade followed Díaz’s dinger with a triple on Manaea’s 86th and final pitch of the night. Overall, he permitted five earned runs on 11 hits and struck out two batters in 5 2/3 innings.

These sixth-inning blowups are a trend for the left-hander in 2026, and especially of late. Over his past four starts -- all of which took him into the sixth -- Manaea has allowed 19 earned runs in 23 2/3 frames.

“I’ve been terrible,” he said. “Getting some length out there, but ultimately, just not any quality out there.”

But it really hasn’t been all bad. From innings one through five in those four games, Manaea limited opposing batters to a .227 average and a .599 OPS with four extra-base hits across 81 plate appearances.

Then comes the sixth, and Manaea’s numbers take a drastic turn from that point on. Opposing batters logged a .619 average (13-for-21) and a 2.344 OPS with 10 extra-base hits across 27 plate appearances. For the season, he has a 9.24 ERA and a 1.335 opponents’ OPS in 12 2/3 innings after the fifth as a starting pitcher.

Something’s got to change. But when you’re this deep into the season, what can be done?

“Switching it up,” Manaea said, before continuing: “Yeah, I don’t really know.”

Manager Andy Green said he stuck with Manaea for the sixth on Tuesday because he thought the veteran southpaw matched up well against the bottom of Tampa Bay’s order. But a single from Chandler Simpson and Fortes’ double helped the Rays get back to the top of their lineup, where Díaz and Vilade landed the knockout blows.

“Those guys did a nice job of putting the ball in play and finding grass,” Green said.

The Mets couldn’t find much grass against a familiar face on the mound. Francisco Lindor led off the game with a homer to right off Freddy Peralta, whom New York dealt to Tampa Bay prior to the Trade Deadline after a rocky few months in orange and blue. But after allowing three hits in the first, Peralta and three relievers kept the Mets hitless for the rest of the game. Peralta struck out seven batters and walked none over six innings.

“I have my confidence back, and I think that's a more important thing for a pitcher, when you trust in your stuff again,” he said.

The leadoff dinger was Lindor’s 16th as a Met, trailing only Curtis Granderson and José Reyes (21) in franchise history.

"Hats off to him,” Lindor said of Peralta. “As the game went on, he got better.”

Lindor supplied New York’s second run on a bases-loaded walk with two outs in the seventh against reliever Tyler Wells. But the Mets’ rally ended there as Juan Soto, representing the go-ahead run, popped out on the infield. That came after two at-bats in which Soto flied out to the warning track each time, accumulating nearly 750 feet of batted-ball outs.