The Mets jumped out to a three-run lead but not only couldn’t hold it, they ended up on the wrong end of a blowout loss, dropping a 12-5 decision to the Yankees in the first game of a doubleheader Tuesday afternoon in the Bronx.
Jeff McNeil, who was robbed of a hit his first time up, smacked a three-run homer to right field to give the Mets a 4-1 lead. But the Yankees countered with power and long balls of their own to jump back into the lead.
Zack Wheeler continued his season-long trend of serving up gopher balls. Wheeler has had two season in the majors with at least 25 starts and in those two years, his HR/9 rate was 0.68 in 2014 and 0.69 in 2018. But after surrendering two homers on Tuesday, Wheeler’s HR/9 rate sits at 1.32 here in 2019.
And not only is it the sheer volume of homers allowed, it’s that there are more of them coming with men on base. Traditionally, about 60% of homers are solo shots. But Wheeler has allowed 13 HR this season and seven of those (54%) of them have come with runners aboard.
While that should have been enough, Wheeler also was victimized by his defense, as four of the nine runs he allowed were unearned.
The Mets stink. Poorly constructed team. Period. Keep Alonso, McNeil, Rosario. The rest ??? Meh….
Couldn’t watch this one but listened while at work. Very disappointing that Wheels couldn’t take advantage of the cushion he was given. Not only did we score 5 runs off their starter, but the Yankees made 3 errors. It was as if, by the 5th inning, the Yankees said, well, I guess they don’t want it.