Jose Quintana didn’t have it tonight and he put the Mets in an early hole from which they could not recover, as they lost the opener of a three-game series to the Giants, 5-2 Monday night in San Francisco.
Quintana allowed seven hits and three walks in his five-plus innings, which the Giants turned into a 4-0 lead, scoring two in both the second and third innings. But then Quintana found his footing, having easy frames in both the fourth and fifth innings.
With his pitch count at 90, Quintana was back out there to start the sixth. But his night was over after he surrendered a leadoff homer to Michael Conforto.
The Mets didn’t show much offensively in this game, totaling just four hits. One of those was Pete Alonso’s seventh homer of the year. The Mets tacked on a run in the ninth inning without the benefit of a hit. Brandon Nimmo led off with a walk and he went to third on a ball that Francisco Lindor hit off the bounce. It looked like it was going to be an easy out, but Lindor reached on a fielding error by the pitcher covering first, giving the Mets runners on the corners.
Nimmo scored on a wild pitch. Alonso grounded out for the second out of the inning. Brett Baty kept the rally alive with a walk. But JD Stewart grounded out to end the game, the 13th ground out of the game for the Mets.
Two hits a piece by Marte and Alonso was essentially the offense until sloppy play got then their second run. They need JD’s bat in the lineup and for other regulars to step up. Lindor and Narvaez still hitting under my weight. Kudos to their starter for keeping us off the board. Severino and Webb battle it out in game 2 tonight.
I thought going into this series it was the important test to date. Can’t afford a let down after the dodgers series. This is where it fell apart last yr after a strong state to their west coast trip. Need to take the last 2 and go home winners of 6 straight series