Traditionally, the Mets used to always play well in Arizona. Must be something about the dry heat or the ballpark with the swimming pool. A trip to Chase Field used to be a tonic if things weren’t going well. The Mets picked a hell of a time to buck that tradition. The less said about this debacle, the better.
The Mets had an early lead in this game, when Jose Reyes led off with a single, moved to third on two infield outs and scored on a wild pitch by Diamondbacks’ starter Zack Godley. Jon Niese started for the Mets and he started strong, surrendering two walks and striking out five in the first three innings. If the game had ended right there…
It all fell apart in the fourth. Back-to-back homers by Rickie Weeks an Yasmany Tomas gave Arizona a 3-1 lead. Niese gave up a single and got the first two outs in the fifth, then was pulled by Terry Collins. Once the Diamondbacks got into the Mets’ bullpen, the rout was on. Erik Goeddel walked two men and served up another homer to Weeks. Seth Lugo finally got the last out. In the seventh, Gabriel Ynoa had his own trial by fire, the highlight being a two-run triple by Yasmany Tomas. By the time it was over, the score was 9-1. The Mets got one back in the eighth on a Jay Bruce RBI double. Josh Edgin gave that back and three more in the bottom half, with Tomas hitting his second homer of the evening. Curtis Granderson and Rene Rivera hit superfluous homers in the ninth, but all that did was put lipstick on this pig.
So now it’s on to San Francisco, where a split of four games might be too much to ask.
What are the odds this feeble offense will score off Bumgarner tonight? Poor deGrom is pitching and the best he can hope for is yet another ND.