The Mets came within a foot of sweeping the Braves, dropping the nightcap 1-0 after winning the opener, 4-2, Monday at Citi Field.
The Mets loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning and Kevin Pillar hit a laser beam that Austin Riley was able to dive and catch, nearly turning a double play in the process. Brandon Drury popped up to end the game, giving Atlanta its second-straight 1-0 win in G2 of a doubleheader.
Jerad Eickhoff pitched in the second game for the Mets and he gave the team four scoreless innings. Miguel Castro served up a gopher ball in the fifth to Ronald Acuna for the game’s only run. Sean Reid-Foley pitched a scoreless sixth and Trevor May looked very good with a 1-2-3 seventh.
In the opener, Jacob deGrom pitched five scoreless innings and Dominic Smith delivered a three-run double, powering the Mets to a 4-2 win. deGrom struck out four of the first six batters he faced and retired the first eight Braves hitters until allowing a walk to the pitcher. He struggled with his slider in that AB, throwing three straight out of the strike zone. It looked for a minute like he might be laboring out there but he struck out Acuna to end the inning and right the ship.
The Mets scored the first run of the opener without the benefit of a hit. Jonathan Villar walked, went to second on a bunt by Francisco Lindor, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a wild pitch. That was all of the offense until Smith’s big hit.
Seth Lugo relieved deGrom in the sixth and the hope was that he could close the game out. Instead, he gave up a two-run homer and only pitched one inning. Edwin Diaz came on and closed it out with a clean seventh, picking up his 15th save. deGrom upped his record to 7-2 and lowered his ERA to 0.50 for the season.
Another great deGrom outing. Figured he came out because he gave up a hit. Otherwise he would have gone for the 7 inning no hitter- a new stupid stat that will be kept in this era of pointless measures to shorten a game that does not need shortening. Ian Anderson is a good Braves hurler who comes from my area but we again squander chances to score with a lack of clutch hitting. And Lindor has no business swinging 3-0 against a pitcher who can’t find the strike zone. Today’s another day. Still in first place heading to July and after struggling in the first inning maybe Eickhoff can give the rotation a replacement arm the sorely need. Nice to see McNeil back in the lineup and loved his first pitch swinging and line drive hit in his first AB back. And Dom with the bases clearing double and some nifty glove work at first. Lots to be excited about.
I am disappointed but not surprised that the Mets squandered the chance to tie and win the second game in their final at bat. Bases loaded, one out, Pillar at the plate.
Great teams do surprising and gutsy things to steal games for the jaws of defeat. I do not think a Luis Rojas team will ever be that. Just not enough guts to take action. He is a superstitious kid of macho baseball lineage. No clue how to win a game you shouldn’t.
A DH sweep would have been tremendous… would have set the tone for the remainder of this heavy schedule against tough teams. Instead, the Mets will bump along and hope for 50-50 splits… I don’t think that will win them the division in the end… certainly not the NLCS.
Aside from the depressing IL news, the Mets did what they had to do yesterday. Most importantly, in deGrom games they need two outcomes – a win, and a healthy deGrom. Although every game counts the same, game 2 was a house money game. Eickhoff’s performance was borderline miraculous given his recent production, and while the the Mets came within a foot of pulling it out late, the baserunning was simply horrendous. An additional plus is that the Braves’ bullpen is really really bad, which is really good.
Gut Reaction: Eickoff stepped up and it was unexpected but unfortunately the expected offense didn’t materialize. They have to deliver like Dom’s did in Game 1. The offense is getting an infusion with McNeil, Conforto and Nimmo and maybe they carry the backend of the rotation. If they can just splitting with their division rivals then they maintain their lead.
My pre season projection had Lucchesi better than Peterson. I feel sorry for him and his career. The Mets will likely non-tender him this year because he can’t pitched until 2023.
Joey Lucchesi last 5 outings:
43 pitches
70 pitches
67 pitches
72 pitches
90 pitches
Kid gloves to the max. Still gets hurt. Why do we bother with pitch counts?
Or maybe Lucchesi is a creature of the modern age: not a starter but an opener. Good for 9-12 outs, limited to 75 pitches…
I consider game 2 not house money. With the tying and winning runs in scoring position with one out, the Braves were dirtying their pants. Winning that game would send them reeling, and then games 3 and 4 might reach house-money status, but not now. Now there is pressure on Stroman to stave off losing another series to a division rival.
Great managers steal games. Luis is b-o-r-i-n-g, but he’s young.
What are you looking for Rojas to do? There are times when his bullpen choices have been questionable, but you mentioned stealing games from the jaws of defeat, and I think earlier this week you mentioned that he doesn’t generate offense. What are you thinking he needs to do that he’s not, that good managers do?