Travis d’Arnaud continued to torment the Mets, getting three hits and three RBIs to lead the Braves to a 5-2 win over the Mets Monday night in Citi Field.
Shortly before the game, it was announced that Buck Showalter was going to serve a one-game suspension for Yoan Lopez’ alleged throws at Kyle Schwarber. This was the second game that Showalter missed and the Mets are 0-2 when that happens.
And both times the Mets’ starter was Chris Bassitt. Bassitt gave the Mets seven innings and while he took the loss, he was the victim of some bleeders and bloops. The Braves had two base hits on balls hit off the very end of the bat in their two-run sixth that put them ahead for good, including an RBI double by d’Arnaud.
In the eighth inning against Trevor May, d’Arnaud made much better contact and drove in two runs with a well-struck double to left field.
Meanwhile, one night after posting a season-high 15 hits, the Mets could muster just five hits. Mark Canha and Starling Marte each had two-hit games, with Marte giving the Mets the early lead when he scored on a wild pitch and Canha giving them a two-run advantage when he homered in the third.
Trevor May after the game:
‘Feels like I’m throwing at 80% most of the time… I’m searching and trying to get right… I’m trying to figure out how I can throw the next pitch without pain… Don’t know if it requires an IL stint, but I need more information… I’ll get it looked at again and we will see how we can get back to feeling like me… Honestly, I haven’t talked to the team but I need to know what to do to feel good again but I can’t tell you definitively what it is. I’m extremely frustrated that I can’t throw the ball where it can’t be hit and I don’t know what to do. We need to get it tested (MRI) and see why the arm doesn’t feel good.” May said he’s getting an MRI tomorrow.
Gut Reaction: 0-6 RISP, many 0-fers is a losing formula. Also the Braves bullpen allowed only one hit. The series win streak is in jeopardy.
Ironic that Lopez/Showalter suspensions happened after the Mets complained about them being hit by pitches. The suspensions were deserved but MLB has got to get a better handle of the problem.
i dunno – May made about as good a pitch on D’arnaud as you can make in that situation. Travis just poked at it and got a little lucky.
Two bad calls impacted the game: the missed called 3rd strike on Bassitt which extended the inning and messed with his rhythm (and increased his pitch count) and the horrible called swinging strike on McNeil which he held up.
Mets just seem to play “encumbered” whenever they play the Braves. That may be because the Braves are just better, but certainly they pitch the Mets tougher than all other teams. But how many times does Riley have to homer before they figure out a strategy not to have that.
If the Braves can neutralize Alonso, why not the reverse on Riley or d’Arnaud?
Trevor May is not viable in close games. That’s a period at the end of that sentence.
Key moment in the game is leaving Canha to hit in the 7th with bases loaded against a tough RHer. We’ll never know what Buck would have done. A very close call. But Dom or Luis might have been the play… hindsight is clear as mud. Neither side of the decision is iron-clad… purely a manager’s gut decision.