Isaac Paredes hit two homers Tuesday night as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays spoiled Justin Verlander’s home debut for the New York Mets by earning an 8-5 win.
The Rays improved to 4-4 on a season-high, 10-game road trip. The Mets fell to 5-11 this month.
Paredes hit a three-run homer off Verlander to break a scoreless tie in the third and added a two-run homer to extend the Rays’ lead to 6-0 in the fifth. The multi-homer game was the fourth of Paredes’ career and his first since he went deep twice against the Boston Red Sox last Aug. 28.
In addition, the five RBIs tied a career high for Paredes, who collected five against the Chicago White Sox on April 27.
Harold Ramirez had three hits, including a pair of RBI singles, for the Rays, and Jose Siri hit a solo homer in the sixth.
Bulk reliever Yonny Chirinos (2-1) earned the win after allowing three runs on three hits and one walk while striking out two over 4 2/3 innings. Jalen Beeks opened and gave up one hit while striking out two over two scoreless innings.
Brett Baty homered in the fifth and Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer deep to left in the seventh for the Mets. Alonso socked his 14th of the season, tying him with Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the major league lead.
New York’s Eduardo Escobar had a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the ninth, and Jeff McNeil had two singles.
Verlander (1-2), who signed a two-year deal worth $86.6 million in December but missed the first five weeks with a teres major strain, allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three over five innings. He didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning in his first appearance against the Rays since Game 4 of the 2019 American League Division Series, when he took the loss for the Houston Astros in Tampa Bay’s 4-1 win.
–Field Level Media