The Braves belted three homers en route to downing the Mets, 7-3, Sunday night in Atlanta. After winning the first two games of the series, the Mets had to settle for a tie in the four-game matchup with their East division rival.
Jacob deGrom was on the mound and for the second straight start, his outing was delayed by rain. Perhaps coincidentally, it was also the second straight outing where he did not seem his dominating self. But some will still find a way to blame Travis d’Arnaud, even though he didn’t get off the bench.
Location seemed to be the big issue with deGrom, as he couldn’t put his pitches exactly where he wanted them. He also seemed a little miffed with the home plate umpire but the calls didn’t seem to be as bad as some nights we’ve seen.
As disappointing as it was to see deGrom be human, it was even more disappointing to see continued lousiness from the bullpen. Tonight’s ledger for the relievers was 3 IP, 5 H and 4 ER.
Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil had two hits apiece to pace the Mets attack, while J.D. Davis homered and walked before being double switched to get Paul Sewald in the game.
The Mets outhit the Braves, 11-10, but struggled with the timely hit.
Gut reaction: Ouch! This is the second time that they position themselves to win a series with a divisional rival and didn’t finish it off. (The Nats at home).The pitching is sputtering and needs a tune up so that the Mets can roll on all cylinders. Let’s face it, it is a tough division. I am looking forward to seeing the offense in the Phillies Park. The Phillies might be their primary division rival this season. I hope they can win this difficult series.
I think they accomplished “Finding Nimmo”.
Hey at least the Mets were not nearly as bad as the ESPN booth, which was at record setting levels last night.
One thing for sure is that deGrom needs to get this turned around fast, even if it is just for sparing the bull pen innings and not wins (as he is accustomed to). If you have 4 pitchers per turn going less than 18 outs, then that will rapidly become a management issue.