For the second straight night, the Mets had their chances with the bases loaded late but were unable to cash in. They fell to the Red Sox, 4-2, and ended up the season series with their AL East foe at 2-2. Given the Red Sox’ pitching woes, this is a disappointing result. The Mets are now 1-4 at Citi Field this year.

Just like last night, the hitting star of the game was Boston catcher Christian Vazquez, who delivered two homers off of Mets’ starter Steven Matz. In his two starts this year, Matz has allowed 3 HR in 11.1 IP. Forget the first-inning woes – that’s the real problem Matz needs to solve, how to keep the ball in the park.

The Mets’ offense, which scored 20 runs the past three games, just couldn’t get untracked. There were numerous culprits for that but it’s hard to ignore leadoff hitter Amed Rosario going 0-5. Luis Rojas is insisting on leading off Rosario whenever a lefty starts the game and Rosario is now 3-19 with 0 BB from the first spot in the order. In games where he’s hit elsewhere, he’s 3-7.

New York enjoyed a brief 2-1 lead in this game thanks to a two-run single by Jeff McNeil in the third inning. But Vazquez hit his second homer of the night in the top of the fourth to put Boston ahead for good.

The Mets had a golden chance in the eighth inning with runners on the corners, one out and Michael Conforto at the plate. But Conforto struck out. Yoenis Cespedes walked to load the bases but Andres Gimenez grounded out to end the inning. The Red Sox reliever threw 37 pitches in the inning and somehow the Mets failed to score.

Edwin Diaz pitched the ninth inning, after the Mets got strong relief from both Drew Smith and Jeurys Familia. Diaz was lousy and this time he just couldn’t throw strikes. At least he didn’t give up a gopher ball. But he loaded the bases with no outs. He was removed after allowing a run when he hit a batter with his 35th pitch of the inning. Paul Sewald came on to get the final two outs without allowing any more damage. Diaz’ next outing needs to come in the lowest-leverage situation possible. He’s just not good right now and pitching him in high-leverage spots is just inviting disaster.

The Mets had one last shot in the ninth inning. Brandon Nimmo got a one-out single to bring the tying run to the plate. But Rosario and Pete Alonso both struck out to end the game. Nimmo also reached base and scored earlier in the game. He has a .292/.414/.500 slash line and it’s just silly that he’s batting last in the order when he leads the team’s starters in OBP and SLG.

6 comments on “Gut Reaction: Red Sox 4, Mets 2 (7/30/20)

  • Mike W

    This was a tough game to watch. They just didn’t hit the ball very hard or struck out. Had enough opportunities to cash in and the didnt.

    Things dont look good with Porcello starting tomorrow.

    Let’s see how long they keep using Diaz in the ninth inning.

    Loved seeing Alonso hustle and take that extra base.

  • John From Albany

    Hitting will slump and come and go. Defense, speed, manufacturing runs are more consistent. Not scoring men on third with less than two outs is a killer.

    Dead on about Matz and HRs. Overall he was not on – 104 pitches, just 67 strikes.

    This is the team we will see this year. Some good bullpen – some bad bullpen. Poor defense. Feast or famine offense. It will make for a 30 win and 30 loss season and a Rob Manfred playoff berth.

    • Bob P

      67 strikes out of 104 is 64% which is normal and exactly what Matz did last year. The issue so far is the gopher balls.

  • Mike W

    Cespedes’ strikeout percentage is 47.6%, ouch.

    • Brian Joura

      How much rope will Rojas give him? Especially with Dom Smith needing ABs

  • TJ

    Another game basically lost by the bats, who can’t seem to get that timely hit.

    Mr. Diaz needs to be limited to mop up and very low leverage innings until he can string together 5 or 6 quality appearances in a row. There is no justification for him pitching in late innings unless it is a blow out.

    We’ll see if Porcello can man up.

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