Gut Reaction: Rangers 7, Mets 3 (7/2/22)

Trevor Williams got beat up by the long ball, the Mets couldn’t buy a hit with runners in scoring position and the end result was a 7-3 loss to the Rangers Saturday afternoon at Citi Field.

It was the bottom of the order that did the damage for the Rangers, as the 7-8-9 hitters hit four homers, three off Williams, who did not make it thru four innings.

Buck Showalter had to go to his pen early and often. The good news is that he used Chasen Shreve to get out of the fourth inning but did not bring him back for the fifth, even though a lefty batter was leading off the inning and two of the first three hitters for the Rangers were lefties.

More good news followed, as Adonis Medina threw two scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 3.50 and keeping the game within reach. Keith Hernandez mentioned how good Media has been outside of his appearance in Colorado, which was encouraging to hear. Hopefully, Medina will be trusted with higher-leverage innings moving forward.

But the Mets couldn’t close ground and then the reliever luck ended. Showalter went for the Perverse Platoon Ploy with Joely Rodriguez, sending him out after a “down” because the leadoff hitter was a lefty. Rodriguez promptly walked the hitter with whom he had the platoon advantage and Showalter came with the hook. Tommy Hunter allowed the inherited runner to score and gave up a run of his own the following inning with a solo homer.

Meanwhile, the Mets scored their runs on two homers, a two-run blast by Starlin Marte in the first inning and a solo shot by Eduardo Escobar in the fourth. But they were unable to add any other runs because they were 0-8 with RISP, which is no way to win most games.