It was a matchup of two starting pitchers without either great results or great stuff. And the game lived up exactly to its billing, as both pitchers seemed more interested in racking up big pitch counts early than putting hitters away. And in this game of death by a 1,000 cuts, the Mets came out on the wrong end of a 3-2 score. Combined with last night’s one-run setback, it was the first time this year the Mets lost back-to-back one-run games.
It’s hard to say there were any highlights in this game at all for the Mets. They did get three scoreless innings of relief from three pitchers, with Adam Ottavino, Danny Young and Phil Maton each throwing an inning. For Ottavino, it was the second straight game he pitched. Maton displayed some really good off-speed pitches. Yep, it was a boring game.
Harrison Bader and Francisco Lindor had RBI singles with the Mets, with Lindor driving home Jeff McNeil, who had a double.
But the Mets left seven runners on base and went 2-10 with RISP. The tough one came in the eighth inning, as Mark Vientos hit into a double play with one out and runners on the corners. And there was also the fifth inning, when the Mets had two on, only to see J.D. Martinez and Pete Alonso both fly harmlessly to right field to squelch the rally.
Can’t win ‘em all. The Mets will try to get back on the winning track Monday in a makeup game with the Cardinals that starts at 5:15 p.m. Eastern.
Another game without clutch hitting. You are right can’t win them all- but at this stage of the season, you have to beat teams like the Angels. Another day off the schedule and at least the Braves lost. After the Cards, three with the lowly Rockies. Another chance to string some
wins.
Can’t wait for Gary Cohen to get back from vacation. Ron Darling decided to be the informant of the duo and just kept jinxing the Mets. Telling us that Vientos stood a good chance of driving in that tying run – and Vientos fouls off a meatball with Taylor on the move then pulling the next fastball outside on the ground instead of going with it – and a few other nuggets. Pete Alonso popping pitches down the middle…. Unbelievable.
Quintana was just fine. He gave up three runs but buckled down right there. If you can’t score three runs you deserve to lose. The Mets don’t do well when there isn’t any electricity involved in the game, it seems. Get off my lawn!!!
If McNeil is batting .350+ since the all-star break and his OPS is over 1.000, why is he still hitting eighth? Shouldn’t he be between the bash brothers of Alonso and Martinez?
Gut Reaction: The Mets finally lost a series. It was very disappointing that it was against an inferior team. They had opportunities to drive in runs but they didn’t cash in. On to St Louis for a makeup game. The Cardinals are breathing behind the neck of the Mets.
Most all of us are happy with this Mets run into contention as well as the deadline moves. We also understand that teams play in ebbs and flows. But, they have GM dropped 3 of 4 and 1 1/2 games out with a challenging schedule to day the least. They are a loss or two from being in that second pack of wild card contenders. With so many teams involved, 3-4 back is more like 6-7 back. Losing to a poor team that starts a struggling kid with a 5+ era is tough to take. They can’t afford any more of th rose losses.