Darkness Filled This Knight

Any hopes of this being a Happy Harvey Day was shattered when Daniel Murphy launched a fifth inning two run homerun into the upper deck off of Matt Harvey making it a 5-1 game. Murphy really pimped that homerun too. 

It was the third homerun hit against Harvey on the night. Given Harvey’s pattern this year, it should come as no surprise that the first two homeruns were back-to-back shots by Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon. Overall, Harvey had another career worst night in what had been a nightmare of a season:

For the night, Harvey pitched five innings allowing eight hits, five earned, and two walks with a career worst one strikeout. He has an MLB worst 6.08 ERA. 

Unfortunately, Harvey didn’t get much help. The Mets 6-8 batters were Eric Campbell–Kevin Plawecki–Ty Kelly. Kelly was making his debut with David Wright getting a scheduled day off. It’s hard to question Collins’ handling of Wright so far this year because it has been superb. With that said, if it was an either/or situation, it’s surprising he wouldn’t trot out his best possible lineup for a Harvey start; last night’s Wright homerun notwithstanding. 

With this lineup, it’s not much of a surprise that Stephen Strasburg had a good night. He pitched 6.2 innings allowing four hits, two earned, and two walks with 11 strikeouts. It should be noted that Strasburg found himself in the same shoes last year that Harvey finds himself now.  Strasburg finished last year going 6-2 with a 1.90 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP. This year he’s a sure fire All Star and an early Cy Young candidate with an 8-0 record with a 2.79 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. 

The Mets offense was an Asdrubal Cabrera homerun fourth inning homerun and a short lived rally in the seventh. The Mets had a first and third with no outs with the aforementioned Campbell-Plawecki-Kelly triumvirate due up. Campbell got an RBI ground out making it 5-2. Plawecki walked, and Kelly struck out. In his big league debut, Kelly was 0-4 with three strikeouts. Juan Lagares then pinch hit for Hansel Robles (who was great again), and he struck out against Felipe Rivero ending the rally. 

Any hopes that the Mets would come back were dashed by the bullpen. In consecutive innings Antonio Bastardo and Jim Henderson allowed solo homeruns. It snapped the Mets’ bullpens 16.2 inning scoreless inning streak.

Campbell hit a one-handed two run homerun in the ninth (yes you read that right) to make it 7-4. That would be the final score.  It wasn’t really that close, but it was just one game, albeit a game that leaves the Mets once again looking for answers across the board. The Mets play another one tomorrow. 

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