After a streak where he retired 20 of 21 LHB, Joely Rodriguez has returned to earth. With a bunch of lefties due up in the seventh inning, Buck Showalter brought him into the game. Rodriguez gave up a run and the Mets ended up on the wrong end of a 4-3 game against the Dodgers Tuesday night at Citi Field.
The Mets had a chance to really break out in the first inning, with a run in, runners on the corners and nobody out. But Pete Alonso struck out, Francisco Lindor was caught stealing and Darin Ruf whiffed, too.
Taijuan Walker ran into trouble in the third inning, where three hits, a walk and a HBP resulted in three runs. But he settled in and gave two more scoreless innings after that. Walker went out for the sixth inning and got an out before giving up a double. With his starter at 92 pitches, Showalter went to the pen. Seth Lugo loaded the bases but did not give up a run.
Meanwhile, the Mets tied the game with two solo homers. Starling Marte hit a solo shot in the third inning and Mark Canha unloaded with an upper deck shot in the fourth.
But that was it for the Mets’ offense. They had chances but just couldn’t get the run across.
The Mets’ pitchers did a nice job keeping the Dodgers without a home run ball. But they simply allowed too much traffic on the bases, as they surrendered seven hits, a season-high eight walks and a hit batter. The Dodgers were only 2-11 with runners in scoring position or else this might not have been close at all.
Rodriguez is now 0-4 on the season with a 5.17 ERA. For a while it looked like he might be useful in the playoffs as long as he was used as a true LOOGY. But even that looks doubtful now. The one good note for the pen tonight was two scoreless innings from Mychal Givens. Hopefully he’s completed his rough stretch and can go back to being the effective reliever he’s been for most of his career.
Gut Reaction: This was a close competitive game. Last night Rodriguez he didn’t get the lefties out. He failed at his job. Lugo, Hunter and Givens did their jobs well. These late summer games will determine who is chosen for the post season bullpen.
Another recent pattern that is disturbing Is not hitting with RISP. Last night they were 0-4 with RISP. McCann struck out 3X and is a black hole in the batting order. Nido isn’t any better and it is too risky to PH early in the game for the catcher. Although it isn’t an ideal solution but maybe Perez and Vientos should be adding as a Sept call up . At least they will have some flexibility to pinch hit for the catcher earlier in a game.
They have their work cut out if they’re going to win the series and the season series.. LGM
Let’s not pick on McCann……most of us knows he’s a “black hole” in the batting order. So he struck out three times; guess who else struck out three times? I’ve been more alarmed on how Alonso has been a “black hole” in the cleanup spot since the All-Star game. Maybe Buck should put Canha there and drop Pete to # 6.