“The ball slipped out like a wet bar of soap,” play-by-play man Andy Freed said on the Rays’ TV broadcast, which was a great description and made sense since the game had started after a 51-minute rain delay and the ball could have been a little wet.

Tampa Bay’s 17-6 record since May 20 is the best in baseball, and the Rays showed a lot of the reasons why Saturday.

Following a roughly 50-minute long rain delay, the Mets took the field on a day that felt more like mid-April than mid-June at Citi Field. Things got off to an inauspicious start, as Megill hit the leadoff hitter Josh Lowe on a pitch that bounced in the dirt before connecting with him.

Because on Saturday, the struggles of the No. 5 starter continued in an 8-4 loss to the Rays in front of 41,662 rain-soaked fans at Citi Field, where the Mets dropped a series — snapping a streak of six series they either won or tied — before Sunday’s finale.

Tampa Bay Rays' Brandon Lowe, left, and Taylor Walls, right, react after Walls scored on a single hit by Josh Lowe during the third inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Saturday, June 14, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith) AP

There was a time where they might have made their debuts with the Mets. Instead, they're thriving for a different organization.

The New York Mets had a brutal start to their three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays. On Friday night, the Mets blew a 5-1 lead in the top of the sixth in