Game Recap
In his last start, Terry Collins controversially lifted Robert Gsellman after throwing 84 pitches over six innings in a 5-3 game. It came back to haunt the Mets as the bullpen blew the lead and the game.
Today, Collins controversially left Gsellman in the game. In the bottom of the sixth, Gsellman was due up with the bases loaded and two outs. To that point, Gsellman had thrown 89 pitches, and the Mets were clinging to a one run lead.
Rather than go for the knockout punch, Collins stuck with his starter in what could be Gsellman’s last start. Before the game Sandy Alderson announced both Steven Matz and Seth Lugo will likely join the rotation some time next week. In all likelihood, this means Gsellman is bound for the bullpen or Vegas.
Collins’ faith in Gsellman was rewarded in more ways than one. First, Gsellman earned a bases loaded walk off Brewers reliever Rob Scahill with some help from C.B. Bucknor:
Call hurts #Brewers
Ball 3 should be strike 3
Bot 6 Scahill vs Gsellman
30% call same
1.1in from edge pic.twitter.com/uFnOvwnT0S— Brewers Strike Zone (@BrewersUmp) May 29, 2017
It was actually Gsellman’s second RBI of the game. His previous RBI came in the fifth inning.
The Mets had runners on second and third after a Rene Rivera RBI double. Gsellman hit a medium to shallow fly ball to right, and Glen Sherlock sent Wilmer Flores. Rivera would then score on a Michael Conforto RBI double.
With that, it was 4-2 Mets heading into the seventh. Gsellman rewarded his manager’s faith in him by mowing down the Brewers with a 1-2-3 inning. That would close the books on a good start for him.
Gsellman’s final line was seven innings, three hits, two runs, one earned, two walks, and five strike outs. It was the Mets fourth straight quality start, and it might’ve been his best start of the season.
He kept a good hitting Brewers team at bay. The one run on him was a home run he allowed to Domingo Santana on a pitch that was on the batter’s shoe tops. The first run was on the Mets infield.
Asdrubal Cabrera threw a ball away allowing Jonathan Villar to reach. Later that inning, Jose Reyes picked up a Matt Garza sacrifice fly bunt attempt rather than letting it go foul. This put Villar in scoring position and allowed him to score on a groundout.
The Brewers wouldn’t have a rally like that until the ninth. Travis Shaw and Domingo led off the ninth with back-to-back singles. Addison Reed then settled down by striking out the next two batters and then getting a game ending ground out. It was Reed’s seventh save of the season.
Right now, it’s time to start getting optimistic about this team. The offense is still scoring runs, and the starting pitching has been pitching better and going deeper into games. If that continues, you’ll see more games of just Paul Sewald and Reed. That right there is a winning formula.
Game Notes: Jerry Blevins did not warm up. Unlike Saturday, Curtis Granderson moved to right field for defense when Juan Lagares came on in the eighth for defense. On Saturday, Jay Bruce stayed in and couldn’t get to the game winning hit. Flores was 3-4 with all at-bats coming against right-handed pitching.
When Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud came back from the Disabled List, neither one was hitting much. Recentky, Duda broke out, and he’s literally getting on base in half of his plate appearances. After last year, there was legitimate concern over whether d’Arnaud would hit as well.
Those concerns were put to rest as d’Arnaud came within a triple of hitting the cycle. Overall, he was 3-5 with a run, double, homer, and two RBI. It should also be noted the Pirates didn’t attempt one stolen base against him. It was about as good a night as a catcher can have.
Duda was just as good. He was 2-4 with a run, double, homer, and RBI. Seriously, no one can get him out right now including Pirates ace Gerrit Cole. Actually, that’s not entirely true. Duda’s manager was able to get him out.
It was one of a series of bizarre moves from Terry Collins on the night.
Going into the sixth, the Mets had a 4-2 lead due to the aforementioned contributions from Duda and d’Arnaud as well as a Jay Bruce first inning solo home run.
In the sixth, after Neil Walker botched a potential inning ending double play, Collins left Zack Wheeler in to pitch to Andrew McCutchen. At that point in the game, McCutchen had homered and walked against Wheeler. With Wheeler under 90 pitches and pitching well, Collins stuck with his starter who gave up an RBI double.
It was somewhat of a damper on what was a good night for Wheeler. His final line was six innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, two walks, and five strikeouts.
For a brief moment, it seemed the Mets would hold onto that 4-3 lead.
In the seventh, Collins went to his bullpen and somehow decided to go with Neil Ramirez. Collins used Fernando Salas to close out an 8-1 game, but he decided to go with Ramirez and his 27.00 ERA with the Mets to hold a one run lead. After Jordy Nelson doubled to start the inning and moved to third on a groundout, it became obvious the pitcher with a 27.00 ERA wasn’t going to get the job done.
Collins then double switched Jerry Blevins into the game. This meant the Mets best hitter and defensive first baseman was lifted from a one run game. Fortunately, Blevins got the Mets out of the jam as he typically does.
The Mets also went unscathed though the eighth with a combination of Blevins and Salas. Salas was helped out by Juan Lagares who raced back to get a McCutchen ball at the wall.
The Mets were no so lucky in the ninth. Mercer hit a double to center off Addison Reed that not even Lagares could catch. The way Lagares played tonight in center, that’s saying something. John Jaso tied the game sending it into extras.
The Mets had a chance to go ahead in the top of the 10th. Lagares hit a lead-off single and moved to second on a T.J. Rivera pinch hit single. However, while d’Arnaud was huge for the Mets all night, he struck out to end the rally.
With Collins once again ripping through his bullpen, he had to go to Tyler Pill to pitch the bottom of the 10th. Things did not go well.
It started with Lagares absolutely robbing Gregory Polanco of an extra base hit. Pill then quickly loaded the bases allowing a single to David Freese, plunking McCutchen, and walking Francisco Cervelli. With all that, the Mets were so close to getting out of that inning.
Gift Ngoepe popped out to shallow right. Collins then went to Josh Edgin to try to get Jaso out. Edgin struggled with his command, but he fought back into the at-bat going 3-2 with Jaso. Jaso then hit a line drive to right almost every right fielder in baseball gets to. Not Bruce. As he flailed at the ball, the Pirates were scoring the game winning run to take the game 6-5.
It should be noted Collins brought Lagares in for defense. Instead if moving the far superior fielder, Curtis Granderson, to right, Collins stuck with Bruce, and it indirectly cost the Mets the game. It’s not exactly how Collins wanted to celebrate his 68th birthday. Instead of blowing out his candles, his overworked bullpen did the job.
Game Notes: Asdrubal Cabrera was the only hitless Mets starter. He made up for it by dekeing McCutchen in the sixth. Cabrera got to a ball in the hole, and he had no play at first. He feigned going there, and he then nailed McCutchen at home as he tried to score from second.
Well, Jacob deGrom went out there tonight and reminded everyone why he should be considered the Mets ace.With the bullpen on fumes and the team coming off two embarrassing losses to the Padres, deGrom went out there and played the part of the stopper.
deGrom became not only the first Mets starter to record an out in the eighth, he became the first Mets starter to throw a pitch in the ninth. He was in that position because he completely dominated the Pirates.
To put it in perspective, deGrom was 2-4 at the plate. He only had four fewer hits than he allowed. In his 8.1 innings, deGrom allowed just those six hits while walking one and striking out 10. If not for a mistake to Gregory Polanco in the fourth, it might’ve been a shutout.
On a night like this, deGrom didn’t need much help from his team. Still, the Mets gave him a ton of run support led by native son Neil Walker.
.@NeilWalker18 knows a thing or two about hitting home runs in Pittsburgh. #LGM pic.twitter.com/MfaC10P4d3
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 27, 2017
Walker was 3-5 with three runs, two homers, and four RBI. His RBI accounted for half the Mets offense on the night.
The first run the Mets scored came in the second with Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson hitting a pair of doubles off Pirates starter Chad Kuhl.
After Walker hit his first homer in the third, the Mets rallied again in the fourth. Jose Reyes tripled and scored on a Jay Bruce sacrifice fly. Walker followed this with his second homer of the game. He would be heard from again.
In the sixth, there were runners on first and second and two out due to Michael Conforto and Bruce earning walks off Pirates reliever Johnny Barbarto. Walker blooped a ball just past the out stretched hands of Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer to make it 6-1.
Duda followed with a bases clearing double to make it 8-1. With the double, Duda continued a hot stretch over the past few games where he’s hitting .500 with an OBP above that.
Almost as hot is Granderson. Over the last two weeks, he’s hitting .291/.395/.581. He added to those totals going 1-4 with a double, walk, and an RBI. Both Duda and Granderson need these hot streaks with Yoenis Cespedes playing his first rehab game today.
But tonight, that was about deGrom and Walker. Both players stepped up big when the Mets needed it the most.
Game Notes: Jerry Blevins warmed up in the eighth but did not appear in the game. Fernando Salas recorded the last two outs.
Due to the rain, the Mets played it safe and started Rafael Montero over Jacob deGrom. While it is smart to protect the best pitcher in your team so you can win games down the road, putting Montero into any game severely hampers your chances of winning that game.
That was evident when Montero needed 45 pitches to get through the inning. Of note, the Mets wanted to limit him to 75 pitches due to his throwing 3.1 innings on Sunday. Montero needed 45 pitches because he was usual terrible self.
In the first, he allowed three walks including one with the bases loaded. He allowed three singles with two of those being infield singles. Despite the mayhem, the Mets were only down 2-0 after the first. Believe it or not, that would be all the runs the Padres needed despite them starting Dimelson Lamet, who was making his first career start.
The only run the Mets would score would be on a second inning Lucas Duda home run. After that, the Mets would squander opportunity after opportunity.
After the Duda homer, the Mets stranded Curtis Granderson on second after his two out double.
In the third, Matt Reynolds, who earned a lead-off walk pinch hitting for Montero. The Padres would execute a perfect relay and get the tag down just before Reynolds touched home as he tried to score from first on a Jose Reyes double. The Mets then stranded Reyes on second.
Hunter Renfroe handed the Mets a gift in the fifth. He couldn’t get to a Travis d’Arnaud shallow pop up, and then his throw pulled Chase d’Arnaud off the bag. Then for some reason, Terry Collins opted to go with the butcher boy with Paul Sewald instead of a straight sacrifice bunt attempt. Sewald struck out. Michael Conforto, who had a golden sombrero, struck out as well. Reyes popped out to end the rally.
Jay Bruce and Neil Walker led off the sixth with back-to-back singles off Padres left-handed reliever Jose Torres. Duda then grounded into the 3-6-3 double play. The Mets were still alive in the inning putting runners at the corners after a Wilmer Flores walked against Kevin Quackenbush. With Granderson coming up to the plate, the Padres brought in Ryan Buchter, and Collins countered with T.J. Rivera. Rivera flew out to end the inning.
There were runners and first and second and two out in the seventh, but Bruce was unable to cash in grounding out to short.
The shame of this is this was an extremely winnable game. Even as bad as Montero was, the Mets were still in position to win. Montero’s final line was three innings, five hits, three runs, three earned, three walks, and four strikeouts.
The score remained at 3-1 because Sewald was brilliant. Sewald was stretched to three innings and 41 pitches due in part to Montero’s ineffectiveness. Sewald once again answered the call pitching three scoreless allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four. It should be noted Collins deemed him unavailable yesterday.
Josh Edgin was nearly as good as Sewald pitching two shut out innings himself. Overall, while the bullpen has struggled, they did their job tonight.
Finally, in the eighth, the Meys offense broke through. Walker hit a lead-off double off Padres reliever Brandon Maurer, and he would score on a Duda seeing eye RBI single. Still, that rally would fizzle as Asdrubal Cabrera would ground into an inning ending double play.
The Padres added a run off the struggling Addison Reed in the ninth making it 4-2. That run would loom large.
Juan Lagares walked off Padres closer Brad Hand tostart the ninth inning rally, and he would go to third on a Conforto single. Reyes hit a high chopper which was enough to score Lagares and prevent the double play. Still, it was the second out of the inning. Bruce then fouled out to end the game.
The foul out put a capper on a frustrating night at the plate going 1-10 with RISP. It does not matter who the Mets did and did not start in this three game series. The Padres are terrible. The Mets should have swept them or at least taken two of three. Instead, they blew a five run lead last night and couldn’t hit with RISP tonight.
The entire Mets organization needs to do some soul searching after this series.
Game Notes: Cabrera was activated from the Disabled List but did not start. Kevin Plawecki was sent down to make room for him on the roster.
Due to the ineffectiveness and injury to Tommy Milone, the Mets put Robert Gsellman back in the rotation.
Gsellman went out there and gave the Mets what is technically considered a quality start, which is three earned over six innings. Things might’ve gone better for him, but Yangervis Solarte got to him twice knocking in all three runs against Gsellman.
After the top of the sixth, Gsellman had thrown just 84 pitches. There would be no seventh inning though because Gsellman was due to lead off the inning. That and the fact Gsellman hasn’t started in a while.
Still, it should not have mattered. The Mets were up 5-3 against the team with arguable the worst offense in the National League.
Well, the Mets look like the worst bullpen in the National League, and Terry Collins used all the quality arms last night. Well push came to shove, and Fernando Salas was the one who got hit.
Salas loaded the bases with two outs following a pinch hit single by Chase d’Arnaud with back-to-back walks to Matt Szczur and Solarte. At that point, Collins decided to make the worst possible move he could’ve made. He went with Neil Ramirez and his 10.32 ERA to pitch to Wil Myers:
Mets had a 5-1 lead. Now tied at 5 in the 7th after Wil Myers' two-run single. Missed a grand slam by thismuch: pic.twitter.com/uiQHeKeu71
— James Wagner (@ByJamesWagner) May 25, 2017
Thanks in part to a little luck and some Timo Perez-esque base running, the Padres only tied the score. Fortunately, Josh Edgin got the Mets out of the jam.
Unfortunately, Collins went to Josh Smoker to pitch the eighth. For the second straight night he was greeted with a long home run. This one was hit by Hunter Renfroe.
Renfroe would return the favor to the Mets in the bottom of the eighth. He flat out dropped a Juan Lagares fly ball. To his credit, Lagares hustled on the play and got to second base. The Mets would strand him there.
That was about all that the Mets offense had done wrong on the night. Michael Conforto continued to rake going 2-3 with a run, RBI, and two walks. Wilmer Flores hit a bases clearing double in the third. He scored on a Curtis Granderson single. Overall, every Mets starter except Rene Rivera reached base at least once.
The Mets offense would get one last chance against Brad Hand who came on to save the Padres 6-5 lead.
Neil Walker got the rally started with a lead-off single. Lucas Duda had a tough at-bat drawing a well earned walk, his third of the game. He came off for Matt Reynolds. The bases were then loaded as Flores hit a seeing eye single just past the shortstop.
Granderson and Rivera then struck out putting the game in Lagares’ hands. Renfroe wouldn’t drop this flyball leading to yet another brutal loss created by a bullpen meltdown. At least we know Collins won’t learn from this game either.
Game Notes: Jay Bruce sat with a back injury.
When Michael Conforto stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the first, he set the tone for the game:
Way to get the party started. @mconforto8 leads off the game with a home run. ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/zayCAJqGXU
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 23, 2017
In what was another huge game for Conforto, he ignited the Mets offense. In that first inning, the Mets knocked out Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin with two outs in the first.
After Conforto’s keynote address, the Mets loaded the bases with no outs. Curtis Granderson knocked in the second run with a sacrifice fly. Wilmer Flores, who can suddenly hit righties, hit an RBI single. Flores and Neil Walker would score on a bases clearing two RBI Lucas Duda double.
Conforto came back up the second time that inning, there were runners on second and third with two outs. Conforto ripped a two RBI single making it 7-0 Mets. At that point, the game was essentially over.
It was another huge game for Conforto. He added another homer in the fourth. Overall, he was 3-4 with a HBP, two runs, two homers, and four RBI.
It was enough run support for Matt Harvey, although it did look shaky for a while there.
Harvey didn’t have his pinpoint control. In fact, he’s been missing it for a while now. Tonight, it lead to him issuing four walks. There was just one 1-2-3 inning. It also led to Harvey’s pitch count escalating. He needed 103 pitches to get through five.
Still, Harvey bore down when he needed. The Padres did get him for two in the second but no more. For the first time in six starts, he didn’t allow a homer. In fact, it was just the second time this season Harvey didn’t allow a homer.
With the Mets offense exploding, and Harvey showing some grit, Harvey would earn the win. His final line was five innings, three hits, two runs, two earned, four walks, and six strikeouts.
From there, there was some interesting moments with the Mets bullpen. Josh Smoker, who was just recalled from Vegas, was greeted with. On the first pitch he threw Ryan Schimpf hit a monster home run.
Paul Sewald got into some trouble in the seventh leading Terry Collins to get Jerry Blevins up despite the Mets having a 8-3 lead at the time.
Don’t worry, Blevins got into the game. Apparently, it was because no eighth 9-3 lead in baseball is safe. Because a right-handed batter was coming up with two outs in the eighth, Collins then had to go to Fernando Salas with two outs.
Aside from Collins’ continued abuse of his bullpen, the only real issue from the game was Jay Bruce. Bruce was forced to leave the game early in the sixth with back issues.
Overall, the Mets looked every bit of a good team pounding a poor team. Conforto continued his brilliance, and Duda started to turn things around. It was a good 9-3 win. Mets need more of these to get back to .500 and back in the NL East race.
Game Notes: The seven first inning runs were the most scored in the first inning by the Mets in 13 years. Hansel Robles was demoted before the game.
Originally, I was supposed to be watching this game with my brother, but with him being rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery on Friday, those plans were nixed. By the way, Happy Birthday to him. His gift was being discharged from the hospital. It is a good thing he was going through the discharge process because I’m not sure even his painkillers would have been sufficient to dull the pain of watching that game.
Before you could blink, it was 5-0. It would have been worse but Michael Conforto nailed Danny Espinosa at home plate. Believe it or not, it got worse from there. Mike Trout and Jefry Marte would hit back-to-back homers off Tommy Milone to make it 8-0. At that point, Milone was done for the day.
To put is succinctly, Milone was absolutely terrible. He threw 43 pitches with only 27 of them being strikes. When he did throw a strike, it was hit hard. Overall he pitched just 1.1 innings allowing eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits and two walks. As bad as that was, Rafael Montero came into the game.
Bringing in Montero was the right move because it’s already 8-0, and you don’t want to rip through an already tired bullpen. However, Montero is really just a white flag. When he comes into the game, it really means “Game Over.” It was a gorgeous day, and I have a three year old. I decided to go out and have a fun day away from the team. There was no sense watching anymore.
And really, it is getting to the point where you don’t want to watch the Mets on Sundays anymore. Since winning their first Sunday game of the season, the Mets have lost five straight Sunday games. Overall, they are getting out-scored 65-24 in Sunday games. The losses have been a mixture of disheartening losses and blowouts. They have made you feel worse about series losses, and they have overshadowed series victories. It makes me happy that the Mets no longer offer the Sunday Plan because I otherwise would have been at the game watching that mess again.
Sure, in turning the game off, I missed the Mets making a game of it with the Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce homers. I also missed the continued struggles of Hansel Robles. Instead, I got to ride on a train and drink soda from an animal sippy cup. I also got to see a sea lion up close.
With that, I at least had a fun Sunday, which is something I would not have had if I continued to watch that Mets game.
When tonight being the night Terry Collins became the Mets all-time leader in games managed, you knew tonight couldn’t be easy no matter how far ahead the Mets got.
As it turns out, the Mets jumped out to a big lead despite falling to completely cash-in on their opportunities.
In the first, the Mets loaded the bases with no out. The only run the team would score would be on a Neil Walker RBI ground out. Walker got the RBI because Angels first baseman (and former Mets prospect) Jefrey Marte dropped the throw on what should’ve been a double play.
In the third, the Mets had second and third with no outs after Jose Reyes stole second. Michael Conforto would score on a Jay Bruce sacrifice fly. Reyes tagged up and went to third on the play. He’d be stranded there despite reaching third with less than two outs.
The Mets loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth against Angels starter Alex Meyer leading to a pitching change. Walker greeted Jose Alvarez with a two RBI bloop single. Instead of putting the game completely away, the Mets wouldn’t plate another run in the inning carrying a 4-0 lead into the sixth.
It did look like it was going to be enough as Zack Wheeler was cruising. He had pitched five scoreless allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out five.
He then fall apart in the fifth allowing issuing back-to-back walks to start the inning. He then yielded a single to Andrelton Simmons to load the bases, and he plunked Marte to make it a 4-1 game.
Fernando Salas would come on in a huge spot, and for the first time since the beginning of the season, Salas came up huge. He yielded no more than an RBI ground out there for preserving the Mets lead. Due to Salas’ work, Wheeler was still in line for a win.
With Robert Gsellman pitching two scoreless, looking like the guy we all thought could be a Rookie of the Year candidate, and the Mets tacking on runs, the game appeared to be in the bag.
It became time to test out the lower end relievers after a big eighth. Lucas Duda got things started with a two out double. Rene Rivera was intentionally walked. Wilmer Flores hit an RBI double scoring Duda. On the play, Rivera got caught on a rundown. With Simmons dropping the ball, Rivera was able to stay alive.
He then scored on a Reyes RBI single. It was a huge night for Reyes in that not only did go 3-4, but he also recorded his 2,000th career hit.
The Mets entered the ninth with a 7-2 lead, which was the perfect spot to bring in Neil Ramirez and his 8.71 ERA. After tonight, it appears there’s no real spot for Rivera
He loaded the bases in the ninth without recording a win. The Mets would need to bring on Addison Reed for his sixth save of the season. It wasn’t easy with him allowing all the inherited runners from Ramirez to score. One of those runs scored on a sac fly when Trout just missed one.
In any event, Reed closed the door, and Collins has coaching more games than anyone else. The Mets have also shaved 2.5 games off the standings over this recent hot stretch.
Game Notes: The Mets played some good defense today. Conforto had a leaping catch and nails someone at the plate. Also T.J. Rivera made a diving stop at third and throw out the runner first.
It seems like a Mets starter hasn’t recorded an out in the seventh inning since Noah Syndergaard pitched seven innings in the Wild Card Game. It hasn’t been quite that long. It was actually that long. It was “just” 18 games.
It seemed tonight that streak just did not want to die. With a 1-1 count to Andrelton Simmons, Jacob deGrom had a finger issue. He continued pitching, and he allowed a double. This led to Terry Collins coming out of the dugout with Ray Ramirez to check on deGrom, who stayed in the game.
He then walked C.J. Cron and hit Martin Maldonado with a pitch to load the bases with no outs. As Dan Warthen visited the mound, Rob Darling was saying the Mets needed to pull him. Instead, the Mets stuck with deGrom. It was the right decision.
deGrom fought back by striking out Danny Espinosa. Then, a Mets pitcher finally got some help from a Mets shortstop as Jose Reyes made a nifty catch.
Here's that Jose Reyes run-saving juggle to help Jacob deGrom escape a bases-loaded jam in the seventh. #Mets pic.twitter.com/AxdHW0E2Nj
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) May 20, 2017
Entering tonight, Mets shortstops have posted a -9 DRS, the worst in the majors. It was about time they helped their starters. A Cameron Maybin fly out, and deGrom escaped a bases loaded no put jam.
It was the perfect cap to what was a terrific night by the man all fans overlook when naming an ace. This was a big start when the Mets needed it most. He pitched seven scoreless innings allowing just four hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. He would be the first Mets starter to get to three wins.
As good as deGrom was going, former Marlin Ricky Nolasco was nearly as good. Still, the Mets got to him just enough times.
In the first, it was a big two out RBI ground rule double by the suddenly resurgent Curtis Granderson scoring Michael Conforto.
Neil Walker started the next rally with a lead-off single to start the sixth. He smartly moved up when Wilmer Flores flew out to the warning track for the second out. Forgetting that Rene Rivera has suddenly become Gary Carter, the Angels intentionally walked Lucas Duda to face him. Rivera made them pay hitting an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 10 games.
The Mets capped off their scoring when Conforto hit an opposite field solo homer in the seventh to extend the lead to 3-0. This gave the Mets bullpen a comfortable lead to protect and just six outs to get.
With two left-handed batters bracketing Mike Trout, Jerry Blevins started the eighth. This was Blevins’ 25th appearance making him the first Mets pitcher to made 25 appearances in the Mets first 40 games of the season.
Blevins did his job recording two strikeouts around a Trout single. Collins then went to Paul Sewald for his first ever hold opportunity in the majors. He locked it down striking out Cron to end the inning.
Addison Reed came on to close out the game recording his fifth save of the year. It was the type of 3-0 win you expected to see all year. This was the first of its kind this year. With that said, if the Mets starters step up like deGrom did today, we could be seeing more of these again.
Game Notes: T.J. Rivera snapped an 0-10 streak with a eighth inning pinch hit single. deGrom entered the game with the highest batting average in the Mets lineup. The win snapped the Mets seven game losing streak.
For the past seven games, the Mets have found new and interesting ways to lose. Today, it was a tried and true method for this team. Not getting hits with RISP and some truly bizarre managerial decisions from Terry Collins.
Like most of the games on this road trip, things started well for the Mets. Michael Conforto, who Collins has spent the better part of two years telling us can’t hit lefties, hit a two run homer off Patrick Corbin to give the Mets a 2-0 first inning lead.
From that point forward, the Mets would go 1-6 with RISP.
Matt Harvey would give up that lead. In the first, he allowed a lead-off triple to Rey Fuentes. Fuentes then scored on a Chris Owings ground-out. In the third, Harvey allowed an opposite field two run homer off the bat of Jake Lamb.
It was all part of a maddening start by Harvey. He did not have one 1-2-3 inning. He walked four batters including the opposing pitcher. He allowed his 11th homer of the season. He needed 95 pitches to get through 5.1 innings.
And yet, there were positive signs. He didn’t allow a hit with RISP. He had big strikeouts of Paul Goldschmidt and Yasmany Tomas. He left the game in line for the win.
The Mets had a 4-3 lead when Harvey departed. The additional two runs came in the fourth. Juan Lagares hit a long home run to tie the score at three. Matt Reynolds followed with a walk, and he would score on a Jose Reyes RBI double. As we know, the Mets wouldn’t win this one.
For some reason, Collins went to Robert Gsellman and his 7.07 ERA to pitch the seventh. This is the same Gsellman the Mets have just removed from the rotation for the next couple of weeks. Depending on the ETA of Steven Matz and/or Seth Lugo, Gsellman may not start another game this year. Despite this, Collins felt Gsellman was the right man to protect a one run lead to help the Mets break a six game losing streak.
Gsellman would walk Goldschmidt, and he would score on a Tomas RBI double. Just like that, the score was tied.
The Mets would mount subsequent rallies to try to get another lead. In the eighth, there were runners on first and second with two outs, and Lagares grounded out. In the eleventh, the Mets had the same situation, and Reyes struck out. That would be the Mets last chance.
The real part of the Mets bullpen had done a good job. Josh Edgin got Harvey out of the sixth unscathed. Jerry Blevins (8)and Addison Reed (9 & 10) pitched perfect innings to get the Mets to the 11th. At that point, Collins did the complete opposite of what he should have done.
He brought in Rafael Montero. Not the red hot Paul Sewald. Not Fernando Salas who has been better of late. Not Neil Ramirez who the Mets signed to help the bullpen. No, he brought in Montero, and his rationale was absurd:
To recap: Mets were down to Montero, Sewald, Salas, Robles, Ramirez.
Salas-off, Robles-iffy, Ramirez-extended lay off; Sewald-closer.— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) May 18, 2017
First batter Montero faced was Chris Herrmann. Herrmann is a career .207/.277/.338 hitter who entered the game hitting .160/.250/.280. He injured his hand in this game. Naturally, he did this:
"That ball is gone! Chris Herrmann walks it off!"#DbacksSweep pic.twitter.com/vATHD6f4mg
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 17, 2017
To recap, Collins brought in a guy with a 7.07 ERA to preserve a one run lead, and he used a guy with a 9.00 ERA to keep the game scoreless. At this point, you have to wonder if he’s trying to get fired.
Game Notes: Reyes tried to go to second on a play in the second on a throw to the cut-off man. The play wasn’t even close, and it killed what could have been a big rally.