Mets Had Just Three Hits

For the second night in a row, the San Diego Padres flirted with a no-hitter against the New York Mets. This time it was Blake Snell.

Through 4.2 innings, he was perfect until he walked Billy McKinney. That led to nothing. Leading off the seventh, Francisco Lindor saved the Mets from the indignity of being no-hit with a lead-off single.

The real shame was Joey Lucchesi was again terrific. It didn’t start out that way when he gave up a homer to Manny Machado to lead off the first.

After that, he gave the Mets 4.2 strong innings before handing it to the Mets bullpen. The Mets bullpen kept it close but had a seventh inning hiccup.

Wil Myers doubled off Drew Smith, and then Smith plunked Jurickson Profar. For a moment, it seemed he get out of it when he pounced off the mound on a sacrifice bunt attempt to get the rare 1-5-3 double play.

Instead of getting out of it, Smith walked Tucupita Marcano. Jeurys Familia then relieved Smith only to walk the first two batters he saw to force home a run. When he walked Machado with the bases loaded, it meant that Machado had both RBI in a 2-0 game.

In some ways, this whole game was that seventh.

Lindor had the aforementioned single, which got past Tommy Pham and rolled to the wall. That meant Lindor was at third with no outs in what was then a 1-0 game. He wouldn’t score.

Snell struck out James McCann. In a tough at-bat, Pete Alonso eventually popped out. Then, Snell made quick work of Brandon Drury striking him out on three pitches.

Despite all of this, the Mets gave themselves a chance to win in the ninth. Like with Snell in the seventh, they had Mark Melancon on the ropes in the ninth.

Lindor had a one out single. McCann came up, and he was rung up on a pitch very clearly off the plate. McCann got angry, gave home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott a piece of his mind, and he was quickly tossed.

A clearly irritated Luis Rojas came out to stick up for his player, and Wolcott didn’t waste time ejecting him too.

Once the dust settled, Alonso singled putting the tying run on base. Drury fought off some pitches, but he’d eventually strike out to end the game.

Say this for the Mets right now. They’re pitching the bottom part of their rotation, and they have 17 players on the IL. Despite that, the second best team in the NL has needed everything they had to beat them. It’s a good harbinger for when these Mets are finally healthy.

Game Notes: Luis Guillorme was 1-for-1 with a walk in a rehab game for Syracuse.