BALTIMORE — Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea are scheduled for a return to the mound with the Mets this weekend, lessening the likelihood the team will have to endure the kind of sloppiness that defined Thursday evening.

Brandon Waddell and Justin Hagenman were utilized in a piggyback pitching appearance for Game 2 of a doubleheader, and neither had nearly enough success recording outs in a 7-3 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards.

That beatdown occurred hours after David Peterson pitched superbly into the eighth, but watched Ryne Stanek blow the save in a 3-1 loss in Game 1.

Alex Jackson celebrates after driving in a run during the Orioles’ 7-3 win over the Mets in Game 2 of a split doubleheader on July 10, 2025. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

So much for the momentum that followed two victories in three games in the Subway Series last weekend and a comeback win against these Orioles on Tuesday.

The Mets were flat offensively in the doubleheader — they went a combined 2-for-19 with runners in scoring position — and simply were overmatched by a team that began the day 10 games below .500.

But with Senga and his 1.47 ERA scheduled for a return on Friday in Kansas City and Manaea, last year’s ace, slated to pitch as part of a piggyback with Clay Holmes on Sunday for his season debut, the Mets have a tangible reason to believe a strong final series before the All-Star game is attainable.  

Wadell started the nightcap and pitched three innings in which he surrendered three earned runs on four hits with one walk. 

Hagenman piggybacked Waddell and allowed three runs, two of which were earned, over two innings.

Brandon Waddell pitches during the second inning of the Mets’ Game 2 loss to the Orioles. Getty Images

Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor opened the game with a single and double, respectively, allowing the Mets to take a 2-0 lead on Juan Soto’s RBI ground out and Pete Alonso’s sacrifice fly.

Waddell flushed the lead in the third, when Jordan Westburg’s two-run homer gave the Orioles a 3-2 lead. Alex Jackson doubled in a run before Westburg cleared the fence in left center. Cedric Mullins’ double began the inning.

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Colton Cowser delivered an RBI single in the fourth against Hagenman and Brett Baty’s fielding error brought in the Orioles’ fifth run. Hagenman and Richard Lovelady each allowed a run in the sixth.  

Game 1 included a potential Mets casualty: Jesse Winker was removed after his first at-bat with back tightness, only two days removed from his return from the injured list following an oblique strain. Winker returned to New York for an MRI exam.

Jordan Westburg (right) is greeted by catcher Alex Jackson (70) following his two run home run during the second inning of the Mets’ Game 2 loss to the Orioles. Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

Negated was a strong performance by Peterson on a day he learned he had been selected to the NL All-Star team as a roster replacement for Robbie Ray. The left-hander pitched into the eighth and allowed one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts.

But manager Carlos Mendoza removed Peterson at 90 pitches after he surrendered a leadoff single to Cowser in the eighth and disaster followed: Stanek fell behind 2-1 to the pinch-hitter Gunnar Henderson, who unloaded for his 11th homer of the season. Stanek proceeded to walk the bases loaded before Ramon Laureano’s sacrifice fly gave the Orioles an insurance run.

“[Peterson] got through the seventh and with the lefty leading off, I knew it was going to be batter-to-batter,” Mendoza said of his decision to remove his starter.

Mendoza added that he felt better with the idea of Stanek facing the Orioles’ lefty pinch-hitters than Peterson against the right-handers.

Juan Soto tosses his bat after being walked by by Tomoyuki Sugano during the fourth inning of the Mets’ Game 2 loss to the Orioles. AP

“We can sit here and talk about it all we want, but at the end of the day we didn’t execute offensively,” Mendoza said.

Peterson said he wasn’t surprised to get removed after allowing the leadoff single in the eighth — Mendoza had told him he would be aggressive in his approach to the inning.

Even so, Peterson would have liked the opportunity to continue.

“I felt like I was in a good spot pitch wise and I felt great physically,” Peterson said. “I figured he would give me a chance [after the leadoff single] or come to talk to me and see if I need a double play. But he made it clear that he was going to be aggressive and so I wasn’t surprised when he came out and made the signal.”

Stanek said mechanics were at the root of his meltdown.

“Based on what I have seen so far I just got pretty rotational,” Stanek said. “I wasn’t really staying on-line.”