Yoenis Cespedes
Through the first four innings, Jacob deGrom was pitching like the ace we know he is. After a tough loss, and with first place in the balance, he was as great as he has ever been. Through the first four innings, deGrom had walked none, allowed just two hits, and he struck out six.
He then went into the tunnel into the clubhouse. He was done for the day with a hyper-extended elbow. Based upon the ensuing MRI, he may be gone longer than that. If deGrom is gone, the Mets will have lost much more than a 7-0 game.
Look, we can get into Tom Glavine–Greg Maddux–John Smoltz 1999 strike zone Sean Newcomb was getting from Home Plate Umpire Lance Barrett. The Mets were clearly irritated by it, and we even saw Todd Frazier say something about umpiring in general after the game.
We can delve into Paul Sewald and Robert Gsellman struggled out of the bullpen really for the first time all season long.
We can even wonder how in the word Wilmer Flores forgot to do the one thing in baseball he is actually good at doing – hitting left-handed pitching.
Really, right now, none of this matters. As it stood, this pitching staff needed at least one more starter, and that was assuming Jason Vargas will get better and Zack Wheeler won’t turn back into the guy who forced the Mets to put him in Triple-A to start the season.
Sure, the Mets are just a half game back, and it is possible Matt Harvey, Seth Lugo, and/or Corey Oswalt step up here. We saw something like that happen in 2016 when Lugo and Gsellman performed a miracle over the last month of the season.
Maybe it’s being a little overly dramatic, but after what we saw with Noah Syndergaard‘s injury last year, and how the energy from the team and the ballpark flat-line after deGrom left the game, it’s very possible the Mets need a miracle.
I guess it’s times like these we all channel our inner Tug McGraw and say, “Ya Gotta Believe”
Game Notes: AJ Ramos now has a five appearance stretch without issuing a walk. There was a delay in the game because Yoenis Cespedes‘ necklace broke, and they had to get the diamonds off the diamond.
With the Braves sending to the mound RHP Mike Soroka for his Major League debut, you knew this was going to be a rough game for the Mets. The players change. The managers change. Even the uniforms have changed. And yet, somehow, whenever a pitcher makes his Major League debut against the Mets, you know he is going to shut the Mets down.
For a brief second, it seemed like Soroka would be the exception. The Mets had two on and two out, but Todd Frazier would ground out to end the threat. From there, it was pretty smooth coasting for Soroka. Even with he was in trouble, he would be aided by an Adrian Gonzalez double play grounder in the third and a Mets team who was 0-4 with RISP.
Really, the only blip from Soroka on the night was one pitch he threw to Yoenis Cespedes:
Yo seems fine to us.
His solo shot gets us on the board in the 6th! #LGM pic.twitter.com/pWLNGqY6Ey
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 2, 2018
Even in this frustrating loss, the good news was Cespedes was still sizzling hot even after his thumb injury which forced him to leave Sunday’s game. On the night, he was 3-4 with a run, homer, and an RBI. In the field, he made a couple of nice plays, and he had one of those trademark Cespedes throws:
The throw. ?
The tag. ?
The celebration. ? pic.twitter.com/bu5K4OkkKQ— New York Mets (@Mets) May 2, 2018
The problem with the Mets tonight was they needed more than just Cespedes. Ideally, that would have come in the form of Noah Syndergaard.
It wasn’t to be as the Braves were very aggressive against Syndergaard with many attacking the first pitch. To start the game, the Braves got consecutive hits from Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman, and Nick Markakis. After that Syndergaard settled in a bit, and he gutted through six innings. That’s what a true ace does. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he finds a way.
Unfortunately, even with him figuring a way to get a quality start, the Mets just didn’t have it. After Soroka, Dan Winkler, who was pressed into action after a Shane Carle injury got through the seventh. In the eighth, Michael Conforto, Cespedes, and Jay Bruce failed to plate Asdrubal Cabrera, who had led off the inning with a single off A.J. Minter.
In the ninth, the Braves turned to Arodys Vizcaino for the save, and Frazier got it all started with a single that bounced just in front of the diving Markakis. Then, the Braves did their best Luis Castillo impersonation with seemingly their entire 25 man roster incapable of fielding a pop up to right before second base.
Amed Rosario twice tried to butcher boy it, and he swung and missed both times. He then just fanned on the third pitch of the at-bat. Still, the runners would advance on a Vizcaino wild pitch thereby allowing Frazier to score on a Wilmer Flores RBI groundout. With the Mets down 3-2, the game was then in Jose Reyes‘ hands.
In a surprise to no one, Reyes failed to deliver.
Game Notes: The Mets are now 7-9 since Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki went down. Fortunately, Plawecki is a few weeks away.
One of the most interesting phenomena in sports is how when an aging player returns to his old stomping grounds, sometimes he is just able to turn back the clock. As Mets fans, we saw this in 2006 when Mike Piazza had a two home run game against Pedro Martinez. Yesterday, we saw Adrian Gonzalez have one of those days.
It’s been bad for Gonzalez of late, really bad. He’s been mired in a 1-17 stretch with no extra base hits. Going back a little further, over his last 10 games, he’s hitting .121/.205/.212.
Things have been so bad Wilmer Flores got the previous two starts at first base. Yes, the Padres were starting left-handed pitchers both days, but Gonzalez has killed Clayton Richard. However, when you’re hitting like he’s been hitting, you’re not going to get into the lineup. You’re also going to hear about the Mets planning to move Jay Bruce to first base. This meant if Gonzalez was going to do anything to stop it all from happening, he was going to have to do it now.
Did we mention earlier that @Adrian_ElTitan is Petco Park’s all-time home run leader, too? pic.twitter.com/dnUAVVeHjC
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 29, 2018
That seventh inning three run homer was needed because it helped put what was a close game away. Instead of a tight 4-2 game with Mickey Callaway having to use his best relievers, it was a 7-2 laugher allowing Callaway to get work for guys like Matt Harvey.
It was all part of a great day for Gonzalez. Overall, he was 3-6 with a run, double, homer, and five RBI. He would have had an even better day had Franchy Cordero not robbed him of another double earlier in the game.
With Gonzalez front and center, this was really a day when a lot of beleaguered Mets got healthy. Jose Reyes contributed going 2-5 with three runs, a homer, RBI, walk, and a stolen base. Tomas Nido was 2-5 with a run, RBI, and a walk. And Harvey would pitch a scoreless ninth, even if he did allow a hard hit double to Eric Hosmer. Really, that’s the last time I want to ever put Harvey’s name, double, and a 2015 Royal in the same sentence.
Going with the rejuvenation theme, Zack Wheeler was good, which was needed from a Mets rotation still trying to figure out who can be an effective third starter in this rotation.
He battled most of the afternoon, and he did not get a 1-2-3 inning until the fifth, his last inning of work. That said, what impressed you most about this start was how Wheeler found that extra something at times when he’s usually lost it. Wheeler ended a rally in the first by striking out Freddy Galvis. He helped curb a third inning rally limiting the damage to two runs by striking out Carlos Asuaje. After Manuel Margot‘s two out single, stolen base, and advancing to third on a throwing error, Wheeler struck out Hosmer.
Overall, Wheeler had nine strikeouts, but what was really remarkable was how he got them at key moments when he needed a strikeout. That hasn’t always been his M.O., and it’s a real positive step going forward for him.
Even with his start and with Gonzalez turning back the clock was how the Mets offense put five spots on the board in consecutive innings. It was a full on onslaught by a Mets offense which saw every starting position player register two hits. Even Brandon Nimmo, who came on for Yoenis Cespedes, would register two hits. In addition to Gonzalez, Reyes and Todd Frazier would homer. The sum total of this barrage was a 14-2 Mets win marking the first ever time the Mets have scored double digits at Petco Park.
Of course with this being the Mets, not everything could be a positive. Cespedes, who has been torrid of late, had to come out of the game after executing a double steal with Bruce. In what was his second stolen base of the inning, Cespedes jammed his thumb. The good news is the x-rays were negative. The bad news is Cespedes believes he can’t play over the next three days, and that’s with the Braves coming to town.
Still, things could have been a lot worse with Cespedes, and with the Mets going to Petco, a place where they had only previously won one series, things could have gone a lot worse there. All in all, this was a good series where the Mets got back on track.
Game Notes: Paul Sewald recorded his first hold of the season. He initially came on to relieve Wheeler when it was a two run game. He now has a 1.98 ERA on the season.
If you blinked, you might’ve missed Jason Vargas pitching for the Mets 10 years ago. In his two starts for the 2007 Mets, he was 0-1 with a 12.19 ERA.
Well, if you missed it, you got a sample of it tonight.
Right off the bat, the Padres made Petco look like pre-humidor Coors Field. Vargas allowed a two run homer to Christian Villaneuva, and later that inning, a Juan Lagares rare misplay led to a Manuel Margot two RBI triple. Believe it or not, things got worse from there . . . much worse.
After all was said and done, Vargas’ final line was 3.2 innings, nine hits, nine runs, nine earned, three walks, and five strikeouts. The Padres, who entered the game as the worst hitting club in the majors, had a triple and two homers off of Vargas. That would have been three homers off Vargas had Lagares not made this incredible play to rob Villanueva on what should have been his second homer of the game:
Don’t act like you’re not impressed by @juanlagares2. pic.twitter.com/WgQZnwheiN
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 29, 2018
Really, that Lagares play and a sixth inning Yoenis Cespedes two run homer was it for the highlights from the Mets for this game. That’s typically the case in a game that ends at 1-2. It’s just time to shake things off, forget about this game, and get back on track.
Game Notes: With the Padres starting a second straight game, Wilmer Flores started at first base. The Mets also announced Jay Bruce will get getting some games at first in the upcoming homestand leaving you wondering what Adrian Gonzalez‘s role, if any, will continue to be for this team.
With the Mets having lost three straight series, the last thing they needed was a West Coast trip. They needed to play in Petco Park even less. It’s not just that it’s a suddenly woeful Mets offense was going to one of, if not the, most extreme pitcher’s park in the league. No, it was the Mets all-time record at Petco Park entering this game was 18-32.
Fortunately for the Mets, they had their best weapon out there tonight – Jacob deGrom.
Once again, deGrom was brilliant. His final line on the night was 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, and 8 K.
This is the third straight game he would strike out at least eight, and he now has the longest stretch in the National League of pitching at least 5.1 innings. Basically, deGrom is pitching about as well as anyone, and really, he’s been better than almost everyone.
Given how he’s pitched of late, the offense, and his luck, the questions were whether he was going to get run support and whether the bullpen could hold things down.
In Jacob deGrom's last two starts he's left the game in line for the win only to have the bullpen surrender the lead .According to Elias, since 2014, deGrom has 20 such "blown wins", the most in the majors.
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) April 27, 2018
Well, deGrom would get his run support before he even stepped foot on the mound. After Doug Eddings, who had a wildly inconsistent strike zone all game long, ruled a 3-1 pitch was a strike and not a ball, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a lead-off double off Clayton Richard. After moving to third on a Yoenis Cespedes fly out to deep right, Cabrera scored on a two out Todd Frazier RBI single.
The score stayed that way until the seventh because the Mets could not get anything going against Richard, Michael Conforto made a couple of nice plays in the field, and the Padres were afraid to challenge Yoenis Cespedes‘ arm.
At that point, it was time for Cabrera to once again leave his mark not just on the game but on the early part of the season.
Juan Lagares led off the inning with an infield single just beating Carlos Asuaje throw. Jose Lobaton, who easily had his best game as a Met, singled to set up runners at the corners with no outs. With Richard faltering, it seemed like this is where the Mets would blow the game open. It almost . . . ALMOST didn’t happen.
First, there was the Lagares base running mistake. Instead of following Christian Villanueva down the line on the deGrom sacrifice bunt/safety squeeze, he immediately dashed back to third. If he followed Villanueva down the line, it’s quite possible he scores. Instead he stayed, and when Amed Rosario hit a sharp grounder to Asuaje, the Mets had runners at second and third with no runs and two outs.
With the Padres going into a strong bullpen, it seemed as if they were going to get out of the jam. That perception was absolutely wrong as Cabrera hit a Craig Stammen mistake for a three run homer to effectively end the game.
In the eighth, the Mets would expand their lead with a two out rally. After recording two quick outs, Kazuhisa Makita hit Lagares with a 1-2 pitch, and Lagares would score on the ensuing Lobaton RBI double.
Again, Lobaton easily had his best game as a Met. He caught deGrom, who had a great game. He threw out Franchy Cordero, who was the only Padre to attempt a stolen base. On the play, it was a perfect throw and a perfect tag by Cabrera. Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, Lobaton was 2-4 with a run, a double, and an RBI.
With the 5-0 lead, the only remaining question was whether the bullpen could hold onto the lead or whether there would be another meltdown.
When deGrom parted with one out in the eighth, there was a runner on, and Jerry Blevins came on to face Eric Hosmer. Conforto needed every bit of that deep right field to corral the long fly Hosmer would send. Mickey Callaway then went to AJ Ramos who got Villanueva to fly out.
Then, Callaway went with Matt Harvey in the ninth to close the door. As bad as things have been for Harvey since 2015, no one could have imagined this outing.
No, he didn’t blow the lead, although he did make everyone nervous with Cordero greeting him with a homer, and Harvey walking Jose Pirela. Given Harvey’s recent history and the recent bullpen meltdowns, this was an ominous sign, and Jeurys Familia was rapidly trying to get loose in the bullpen.
Fortunately for the Mets, Harvey, whose velocity dipped all the way down to 90, yes 90 MPH, got a fly out and a game ending double play.
Yes, there was plenty of reason to be excited for this 5-1 win, but seeing Harvey pitch this way certainly did put a bit of a damper on things. Hopefully, both Harvey and the Mets can figure something out at this point because this has become sad and painful to watch.
GAME NOTES: Before the game the Mets recalled Jacob Rhame and sent Corey Oswalt back down. The Mets moved David Wright to the 60 day disabled list to make room for LHP Buddy Baumann, who the team claimed off waivers from the Padres. Bauman was sent down to Triple-A Vegas. Despite his good numbers against Richard, Callaway sat Adrian Gonzalez in favor of Wilmer Flores
The story of this game should have been Noah Syndergaard returning to form. Like on Opening Day, he was mowing down the Cardinals, but this time, he was much more efficient in doing so. Through six, he kept the Cardinals scoreless striking out six and allowing just two hits, and it looked like the Mets were going to cruise to a 2-0 victory at that point.
Both RBI came from Yoenis Cespedes, who snapped out of his funk going 2-5 with a double and two RBI. The first RBI was a first inning off Carlos Martinez scoring Brandon Nimmo from first. In the seventh, in what looked like window dressing at the plate, he plated Amed Rosario with a sacrifice fly.
However, as we have learned with Cespedes, sometimes he will giveth and sometimes he will taketh.
That was evident with Tommy Pham “doubled” on a ball that hit off of Cespedes’ glove. Pham would then come home to score on a Marcell Ozuna single to cut the lead to 2-1. With the way Paul DeJong kills the Mets, really it was a miracle he didn’t tie the score on his double.
Ultimately, it didn’t matter as the Mets gave up the lead in the eighth with some more poor defense.
What was interesting was Mickey Callaway let Syndergaard start the eighth while holding back Robert Gsellman. Really, you wonder why not just go to the fresh arm after an inning in which Syndergaard faced some trouble. Really, this is a bit nitpicky because this is Syndergaard we are talking about here.
In any event, Rosario threw a ball away on a Greg Garcia grounder starting off the inning with a runner on first instead of one out and the pitcher’s spot coming up. Syndergaard struck out Yadier Molina before allowing a single to Matt Carpenter leading to his getting pulled from the game.
Gsellman was in a tough spot, and he didn’t deliver immediately. The first batter he faced, Pham, singled to tie the score. To his credit, with the go-ahead run in scoring position and just one out, Gsellman got Jose Martinez to ground into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
After a rusty Seth Lugo battled through a hit batter and walk to get through a scoreless ninth, the Mets would get an absolute gift run in the 10th.
After two quick outs, Jay Bruce and Todd Frazier hit back-to-back singles putting the game into Adrian Gonzalez‘s hands. Somehow, not only would Luke Gregerson walk Gonzalez, but he would also walk Jose Lobaton to force in a run. With Jeurys Familia coming into the game, it seemed like the Mets would win a series after losing two straight.
Didn’t happen.
After two quick outs, Pham hit a ball up the middle most second baseman make fairly routinely. The problem is Asdrubal Cabrera, even at full strength, doesn’t have much range. With his current leg injury, he has almost no range. Cabrera did all he could do, but he really had no shot at Pham.
Oddly enough, Juan Lagares wouldn’t have a shot at the subsequent Martinez double. Oddly enough, Callaway went against his recent trends, and he put in Lagares for defense. Martinez’s ball to deep center was a play almost no center fielder makes, but we have all become so spoiled by Lagares, he almost makes the impossible seem routine. He ran back to dead center, leaped, and missed. Instead of another highlight reel defensive play, it was a game tying double.
AJ Ramos pitched a perfect 11th, and Paul Sewald pitched a perfect 12th. Unfortunately, the hottest pitcher in the Mets bullpen couldn’t keep the Cardinals off the board. A Martinez walk followed by consecutive singles to Ozuna and Dexter Fowler was the ballgame.
With that, the Mets have lost three straight series, and the vibes from their amazing start have faded. They have faded because the bottom of the lineup is black hole, but mostly, it is because this defense is bad and plays bad.
Game Notes: With the Mets out of position players, Sewald hit for himself in the top of the 13th. Jose Reyes grounded out in the 10th to end that rally.
Through seven innings, the batters in this game might as well have gone up to the plate blindfolded and holding onto a broken tennis racket. That was how good their chances were scoring a run against either Jacob deGrom or Julio Teheran, both of whom dominate the other team and allowed just four hits apiece tonight. Really, their final lines were practically identical:
deGrom (ND) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K
Teheran (ND) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 6 K
It wasn’t until the bullpens got involved that these offenses would wake up, and with the Mets being the away team, they were the ones who went off first.
Wilmer Flores drew a leadoff walk against Braves reliever Sam Freeman, and he moved to second on a Jose Reyes single. For Reyes, despite him entering this game 0-20, he had a resurgent game reaching in his first three plate attempts going 3-4 with a run and a stolen base.
The pivotal moment of the inning, and at that time, the game was when Ozzie Albies just botched catching the throw in his haste to turn a double play on a Michael Conforto grounder. While Reyes was initially ruled out, Mickey Callaway challenged the call, and Reyes was ruled safe.
As an aside, it was the second successful challenge for the Mets on the day. The other was just as important on what was initially ruled an Ender Inciarte stolen base of third with no outs in the sixth:
.@Mets challenge call that Ender Inciarte is safe at 3B in the 6th; call overturned, runner is out.
Powered by @Mitel. pic.twitter.com/hqOZqxQq1v
— MLB Replay (@MLBReplays) April 22, 2018
Todd Frazier‘s holding on the tag kept the game scoreless, and it helped allow this game remain scoreless into the eighth.
With the bases loaded and no outs, this was the spot where you assumed Yoenis Cespedes would come through. Even with his recent struggles, and his batting .195 on the season, he’s still gotten the clutch hits, and he is still hitting with the bases loaded. Except for tonight. He hit a shallow fly to Nick Markakis, and with Flores on third, there was no way he was going to tag up and score on that. With Cespedes’ failure to deliver, it put the rally in jeopardy.
That was until Asdrubal Cabrera came up and hit a clutch two run RBI single to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Jay Bruce followed with an RBI single, and he hustled to second on an Inciarte fielding error.
Eventually, Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked, and Jose Lobaton hit a sinking line drive which Preston Tucker almost misplayed. Instead he made a sliding catch getting the Braves out of the inning down 3-0.
With his performance yesterday, you thought this would be enough for AJ Ramos to lock down. Unfortunately, we didn’t see that Ramos tonight.
No, we saw the Ramos who has troubles maintaining the strike zone. He’d bookend an Inciarte strikeout with walks to Ryan Flaherty and Albies. With Mets killer Freddie Freeman coming up, Callaway understandably went to his lone lefty Jerry Blevins.
Much like how he performed on the season, Blevins failed to get the exact guy he was brought into the game to get. Freeman hit a two RBI double to pull the Braves within one.
Blevins would strike out Markakis, but the damage was done. It was done not just because the Braves plated two runs, but because Blevins failure to get both left-handed batters, but also Ramos’ ineffectiveness, Jeurys Familia needed to come into the game to get the last out of the eighth.
Going multiple innings like this was something that was once old hat for Familia, and with him doing it already two times this season, the hope was he could do it tonight. He didn’t.
It started with a leadoff walk to Dansby Swanson, who scored the game tying run on a Johan Camargo (yes, the very same one) triple.
The Mets got a bit of a break with Kurt Suzuki lining a ball off of Frazier’s glove. Suzuki reached first safely, but Camargo wouldn’t score on the play. It seemed things were turning back towards the Mets direction as Charlie Culberson struck out, which at least created the possibility the Mets could get out of the inning with double play. That didn’t happen because, as Gary Cohen predicted may happen, Inciarte dropped down the drag bunt:
Live from Atlanta, it’s a Saturday night walk-off win! #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/okMgxtJ9u1
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 22, 2018
With that bunt, the Mets lost the game 4-3. More than that, the Mets blew a great start from deGrom. More than anything, this is the second time this week, the Mets bullpen has lost a game against a division rival. It is still too early to begin worrying about these sorts of things, but it is never to be soon to be aware of what issues it could raise for the Mets down the road.
Game Notes: Before the game, it was announced Matt Harvey was moving to the bullpen. Joining him there was Corey Oswalt. Gerson Bautista was sent down to make room for Oswalt.
With the Mets blowout loss on a really bad Matt Harvey start, it looked like a team who lost three of their past four games needed to gain some momentum. Fortunately for the Mets, in baseball, momentum in the next day’s starting pitcher, and the Mets were sending Noah Syndergaard to the mound.
Unfortunately for the Mets, the rest of the team was not quite up to the task when he was on the mound.
Yes, Syndergaard was beat by Ozzie Albies on a fastball, but that was Albies hitting a good pitch. The other runs against Syndergaard was really on the Mets.
In the third, Jay Bruce, who has struggled in every aspect of his game lately, misplayed a John Flaherty ball leading to an RBI double that allowed Dansby Swanson to score from first.
In the sixth, Nick Markakis made the mistake of challenging Yoenis Cespedes‘ arm trying to stretch and single into a double. As poor as the decision was to challenge Cespedes’ arm, it was a smart decision to test Asdrubal Cabrera‘s glove. With Cabrera unable to field the one hop throw, Markakis was safe at second.
Markakis moved to third on a Syndergaard wild pitch, which was partially the result of Tomas Nido not getting down, and he would score the third and tying run on a Kurt Suzuki sacrifice fly.
The shame of it was Syndergaard was very good on the night. His final line was 6.0 innings, seven hits, three runs, three earned, no walks, and six strikeouts. He would get the no decision, partially because Wilmer Flores couldn’t quite score in the top half of the inning:
#Mets challenge call that Wilmer Flores is out at HP in the 6th; call confirmed, runner is out.
Powered by @Mitel. pic.twitter.com/2cHCNhc9OA
— MLB Replay (@MLBReplays) April 21, 2018
Still, the Mets did score three runs against Braves starter Sean Newcomb.
The Mets scored their first run in the third inning on an Amed Rosario double to deep center allowing Nido to score from first. With Ender Inciarte making a throwing error on the play, Rosario was able to scoot over to third. This allowed him to score on a Michael Conforto sacrifice fly, which, at the time, gave the Mets a 2-1 lead.
The Mets lead grew to 3-1 the following inning. Todd Frazier drew a walk to lead off the inning, and he stole second putting him in scoring position to score on a Flores RBI single.
After the sixth, the Mets would begin to play much better in the field, including Nido, who threw out both Flaherty on a strike ’em out-throw ’em out double play in the seventh. He would then nail Albies in the eighth. These would be the first two players thrown out on the basepaths by Mets catchers.
As impressive as that was, the Mets bullpen was even better allowing just one hit after Syndergaard departed the game. Seth Lugo pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth. AJ Ramos threw a scoreless ninth. Robert Gsellman contributed a scoreless 10th and 11th.
With the tired arms in the Mets bullpen, Mickey Callaway sent Gsellman up to bat against Josh Ravin, who was in his second inning of work.
Gsellman would reach with Ravin hitting him with a pitch, and Gsellman quickly found himself on second on a successful Rosario sacrifice bunt. For a moment, it appeared the Mets were going to squander an opportunity with Conforto popping out, and the .197 hitting Cespedes, who had already had the golden sombrero on the night, coming to the plate.
However, like Cespedes has done many times this season, despite his struggles, he came through hitting an opposite field single against the shift scoring Gsellman from second and giving the Mets a 4-3 lead. That lead expanded to 5-3 when Cabrera hit a double off the right field wall.
Then for the second time in a week, Cabrera made a really bad base running mistake. On the way to third on what should have been a stand up triple, he did one of his slides to stop himself, and he went back to second. He was beaten back to the base by Swanson leading to the third out of the inning.
The good news is that play needed a replay review giving Jeurys Familia more time to warm up and get into the game. Between that and the two run lead, the Mets had all they needed to lock up this 5-3 win.
Once again, the Mets are back to their winning ways, are still in first place, and are sending another ace to the mound in tomorrow’s game. Once again, things are looking up for the Mets.
Game Notes: With a bloop opposite field double in the sixth, Bruce snapped an 0-19 skid. He then went hitless in his next two at-bats.
Considering what happened the last two nights, the Mets really could have used a fast start to this game. Instead, they got Steven Matz threw a 3-2 changeup that Ryan Zimmerman hit for a three run home run to give the Nationals an early 3-0 lead.
After the Zimmerman homer, Matz would allow a Moises Sierra single before going on a tear where he retired the next 11 Nationals in a row. That stretch included a pick-off (scored a caught stealing), no walks, and five strikeouts. He was at 74 pitches, and he looked good to go for a few more innings.
Essentially, Matz settled into the game. However, where Matz settled in, his manager Mickey Callaway, did not.
With Tanner Roark starting to bark at the home plate umpire over some borderline calls, the Mets began to rally in the bottom of the fourth.
Asdrubal Cabrera led off the inning with a double, and Todd Frazier would follow with a one out walk. Once again, it was Adrian Gonzalez delivering a key and unexpected RBI single. The single scored Cabrera and allowed Frazier to go to third.
Jose Lobaton followed with what should have been an inning ending double play. The only problem for the Nationals is Zimmerman can’t throw anymore, and he pulled Trea Turner off the bag not only preventing the Nationals from getting the double play, but also them getting even just one out.
On the play Frazier scored pulling the Mets to within 3-2 with runners on first and second and just one out and Matz due up. Instead of using Matz in an obvious sacrifice bunt situation, Callaway pinch hit Brandon Nimmo.
Considering the events of the past two days, this reeked of a panic move. You could only hope it would work out. Initially, it looked like it would with Roark hitting Nimmo, who smiled and cheered all his way to first base. Still, the move blew up as Amed Rosario hit into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
Considering how the Mets left a small island nation on the bases yesterday, and the team going all-in on the fourth inning, there was legitimate concern the Mets blew their shot.
That’s where Paul Sewald came in, and he gave the Mets another incredible three inning relief appearance. If not for an extremely ill advised Jay Bruce dive, it’s likely all three innings would have been scoreless. Instead, his final line would be 3.0 innings, one run, one earned, one hit, no walks, and five strikeouts.
Sewald both saved a taxed bullpen, and he gave the Mets a chance to win. For once this series, the Mets took advantage of that chance.
With Ryan Madson working a third day in a row, the Mets offense would immediately go to work starting with back-to-back-to-back singles from Michael Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes, and Cabrera to load the bases. After an injured and struggled Bruce popped out, Frazier delivered with the game tying RBI single. On the single up the middle, Cespedes would get his hand in just ahead of the Severino tag.
The Mets weren’t done either. Gonzalez was intentionally walked to re-load the bases, Madson struck out Wilmer Flores leaving the game in the hands of Juan Lagares. Historically, Lagares has struggled against right-handed pitching, but this season he can do no wrong, and he did no wrong in this at-bat hitting a go-ahead two RBI double.
As the inning continued, and the Mets batted around, Sammy Solis would issue a bases loaded walk to Conforto giving the Mets a 7-4 lead. The capper would be Cespedes hitting a grand slam to give the Mets an 11-4 lead.
No, it wasn’t quite the Nationals coming from down 6-1, but it still felt good and nearly as important. Also, it might have demoralized a Nationals team who thought they were going to return the favor to the Mets for them sweeping them at home last week.
Thanks to the heroics of Sewald and a revitalized Mets offense, the Mets won 11-5, and they are well back on track as they go on the road to make a statement against the Braves.
Game Notes: Jose Reyes grounded out to the pitcher in a seventh inning. He’s now 0-18 on the season.
In the top of the first, the Nationals quickly loaded the bases against Zack Wheeler with one out. This is normally where Wheeler would implode, and based off of what happened last night, you’d think this was a spot where the Nationals would jump right out and put up a crooked number on the board.
Instead, Wheeler induced Moises Sierra to hit into the inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
What this told us about the Mets was this was not a completed deflated team. They still had fight in them despite last night’s horrendous loss. So, yes the fight was there. The question was if the execution would be there to pull out a win.
As far as the Nationals were concerned the theme of the nights would be soft hits. They’d use them to set up a Bryce Harper sacrifice fly in the third, and they’d use them to score two runs off Wheeler in the fourth to give the Nationals a 3-0 lead.
By that time, you were left wondering if the Mets had a rally in them. They would in the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single from Wheeler of all people.
Wheeler quickly found himself on third after an Amed Rosario double, which might have been a triple had Wheeler not been ahead of him on the basepaths. Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a sacrifice fly. With Michael Taylor overthrowing the cutoff man, Rosario moved to third allowing him to score on the subsequent Yoenis Cespedes RBI groundout.
That pulled the Mets to within 3-2. The Mets would have their chances to take the lead, but they couldn’t get out of their own way.
In the sixth, the Mets had runners at the corners after back-to-back one out singles from Juan Lagares and Tomas Nido. For reasons that defy all logic, Mickey Callaway decided to pinch hit Jose Reyes instead of using Michael Conforto, Brandon Nimmo, Adrian Gonzalez, or even the newly called-up reliever Gerson Bautista. If you thought Callaway had a rough night last night, he showed he learned nothing.
Reyes struck out in an ugly at-bat against Gio Gonzalez, and Rosario followed with a weak pop out in foul territory to end the inning.
In the seventh, runners were once again on the corners with one out. This time it was due to a Wilmer Flores and Cespedes single. They’d be stranded when Todd Frazier had an ugly strikeout, and Jay Bruce got rung up on a pitch on what the umpire believed was the inside corner. Bruce disagreed.
In the eighth, it was a two out rally that sputtered out after a Conforto walk and Rosario single. Brandon Kintzler would completely overmatch Cabrera to strike him out for the final out of the inning.
While the Mets were failing to cash in on rallies going 0-9 with RISP, the Nationals were tacking on runs to give themselves some breathing room. They’d push a run across in the seventh and eighth, both against Robert Gsellman expanding their lead to 5-2.
The run in the eighth was a little troubling. Michael Taylor singled and stole second. On the stolen base, Nido’s throw was there by Rosario whiffed on the tag. Later in the inning, Pedro Severino hit the ball directly to the drawn in Rosario, who froze thereby allowing Taylor to score easily.
In the end, the Mets lost this game not because they didn’t have fight after last night’s loss. No, they lost it because they didn’t execute against a Nationals team they breathed new life into. As a result, the Mets have now lost their first series of the year and are now looking to prevent getting swept.
Game Notes: Bautista made his MLB debut in the ninth walking one, allowing a hit, and striking out on in a scoreless inning.