Boo! Hiss. No loss is pretty, but the Mets seem to lose ugly these days. This loss was a group effort that can be blamed on bad pitching, costly errors and the usual lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. Bartolo Colon didn’t have his best stuff, lasting only four innings and surrendering nine hits and five runs, though only two were earned as TJ Rivera’s first inning error proved very costly. The Mets seemed to have a chance in nearly every inning but kept leaving men on base again and again. Twelve hits, five walks and a seemingly costly Arizona error only translated to a hard fought six runs. An unlikely rally killer was Colon getting on base twice early in the game – initially via the first walk of his career and then courtesy of a throwing error. Both time big, slow Bart clogged up the bases and prevented runs from scoring.
The Diamondbacks managed a total of 16 hits as the back end of the Mets bullpen did a lousy job of keeping the game close. Erik Goeddel, Seth Lugo and Hansel Robles allowed a combined five earned runs on seven hits over five innings. Thanks, guys. Aside from Colon’s historic walk, there were a few highlights in this game. Jose Reyes and Wilmer Flores each contributed two hits and a walk and Travis d’Arnaud slugged three hits. Soon-to-be-dad Neil Walker continued his hot streak with three hits and another home run. Unfortunately his solo shot was the only extra base hit in this lousy game.
Noah Syndergaard takes the hill tonight in the second game of this series. If we can front him six runs against the rookie Braden Shipley, we should be able to grab a win.
One thing I’d like to add, and this is just one guy’s opinion…I think Robbie Ray is going to eventually develop into a really good pitcher. He just needs to fine tune his control. I said the same thing about JA Happ when he first came up. A lot of lefties need more time with control.
Just an aside, but this was a really terrific write-up of a game that didn’t deserve one. Loved that sentence, “Thanks, guys.”
Nice job, thanks.