Well, that didn’t go as planned.
The Mets scored three runs in the top of the first inning and they had Jacob deGrom pitching in the daytime against a last-place squad. So, as everyone predicted, the A’s ended up routing the Mets, 10-4, Saturday afternoon in Oakland.
Francisco Lindor hit a sac fly to drive in his 100th run of the season and Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer, pulling him one behind the franchise record in RBIs, to give the Mets a three-run lead.
But deGrom simply didn’t have it. His velocity was down, his command was not good and the home plate ump squeezed him on a couple of pitches. The end result was a four-run bottom of the first for the A’s. It ended deGrom’s MLB record of consecutive starts allowing 3 ER or fewer.
Mark Vientos tied the game in the top of the second with his first MLB homer. But the A’s went ahead to stay when deGrom gave up a solo homer in the third.
deGrom was pulled after just four innings. The Mets used five relievers to finish the game and four of those ended up allowing runs, with only Tylor Megill throwing up a zero. Megill faced just one batter and threw two pitches.
The A’s made some nice defensive plays and combined with their 14-hit attack, they certainly earned the win. But it was just an unexpected flat outing for just about everyone after Vientos went deep in the second inning.
You can’t win ‘em all but you sure feel like a “W” is coming your way when you give deGrom a three-run lead. The game was a bummer. But Max Scherzer takes the hill in the rubber game of the series and has the chance to keep the Mets on track by leading the team to a winning series.
Another series win is what we need today as that has been a recipe for success all season long. A rare poor outing for Jake who could not locate his pitches and also had the worst ump in the game creating his own strike zone. But our offense made their relievers looks much better than they usually are. Lindor and Alonso keep on plugging. Hope Nimmo was just being rested and there is not a deeper problem. We sure need Marte back on the field and at the plate but still not sure when that will happen. In time for the Braves next weekend would be great. Ruff, Naquin and a Vogelbach continue not to do their imitation of Johnson and Uribe from the 2015 pickups. No one wants to see Ruff out in the field anymore. Max for the series win today and it’s all in our hands with the schedule we have. Morton against Gibson at 1pm in Philly today should be an interesting matchup as the Phillies are still fighting for wildcard placement. Hope they stay motivated. LGM