For the first five innings Steven Matz was cruising. He had only allowed three hits and one walk while striking out three. His scoreless inning steak reached 19 innings. He was showing why he’s getting strong All Star consideration and is a leading Rookie of the Year candidate. 

That’s the thing. Seeing how composed and dominant he’s been, it’s easy to forget he’s a rookie who has never thrown more than 140.0 innings in a season. We were reminded he was a rookie in the sixth inning. He was touched up for three runs off five hits, one walk, and a Todd Frazier homerun. Matz was pulled with two outs. His final line was five innings, seven hits, three earned, two walks, and three strikeouts. 

Matz was bailed out by a double play and Jim Henderson. The 4-3 lead was preserved, and the Mets bullpen went to work starting with Noah Syndergaard:

Noah Syndergaard in the seventh inning by MPH: 100, 101, 101, 94, 101, 94, 100, 101, 95, 101, 94, 101, 99, 100, 99, 92, 92.

— D.J. Short (@djshort) June 1, 2016

The 94s were sliders, and the 92s were changeups. Syndergaard appeared in the game as Terry Collins wanted to get him some work after Sunday’s ejection. 

The Mets had scored the first two runs off not one but two – TWO! – sacrifice flies. The first was by Yoenis Cespedes in the first. The second was by Curtis Granderson in the third. Granderson has gotten hot of late. Over his last nine games, he’s 10-32 with six walks, a double, triple, and two homers. Speaking of homers, Neil Walker hit his 13th homer of the year for the third and fourth runs of the game. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The Mets bullpen struggled again. Hansel Robles lost the lead in the eighth after allowing a two run homerun to Melky Cabrera. He left two runners on when he gave way to Jerry Blevins. Blevins allowed a walk to Adam Eaton. Logan Verrett relieved him, and allowed an RBI single to Brett Lawrie. Robles took the loss pitching 0.2 innings allowing one hit, three earned, and two walks with one strikeout. 

The natural question is why Collins didn’t let Syndergaard pitch two innings. It’s a fair question, but the Mets bullpen has been great all year. You should expect them to get the job done, but they didn’t, and the Mets lost 6-4. 

Game Notes: It was James Loney‘s Mets debut. As a left-hand batting contact hitter forced into action at first base due to injuries, he was given the number 28. He was 0-4.