Mets Drop Final Game, And Series, Before All-Star Break
Buck Showalter. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The final game before the All-Star break perfectly summed up the New York Mets’ first 90 games of the season. On Sunday afternoon at Petco Park in San Diego, the New York Mets got some poor starting pitching and failed to take advantage of numerous opportunities. As a result, the team lost 6-2 and enter the break on a two-game losing streak with a record six games under .500. To add injury to insult, the team loss Tommy Pham to “right-groin soreness,” and was hit by a franchise-record five pitches.
Max Scherzer got the start and the same issues that have plagued him all season long haunted him once again. Scherzer gave up two costly long balls, each courtesy of Manny Machado, which accounted for five of the six runs the Padres scored. Scherzer has now allowed 18 home runs across 87 2/3 innings this season. Last year, he only gave up 13 across 145 1/3 innings.
Scherzer enters the break with an alarming 4.31 ERA. His final line in Sunday’s contest was five innings, six hits, five runs, three walks, and seven strikeouts. Hopefully, the second half is much better for the Mets’ $43.3-million-per-year man.
The other main theme for the Mets on Sunday was the inability to seize prime scoring opportunities. Joe Musgrove, who shut the Mets down in Game 3 of the Wild Card series last year, entered Sunday allowing two or fewer runs in seven of his last eight starts. So, the Mets solving him was a tall task to begin with, they made it even harder on themselves as the game went on.
The first opportunity came with two men on in the second inning before Francisco Álvarez promptly grounded into a double play. In the fourth inning, the Mets worked the bases loaded with only one out, however, DJ Stewart and Álvarez followed with two, three-pitch strikeouts. In total, the Mets ended up grounding into three double plays and lined into a fourth as they also failed to take advantage of a franchise-record five hit by pitches. It was just one of those days.
The Mets did not go completely silent, though. New York got a rally started in the eighth inning when Mark Canha lined a two-run double into the gap. However, they were doubled-upped for the fourth time in the game on a soft line drive by Pete Alonso. Alonso struggles continued as he went 0-for-3 in the contest. His OPS has dropped over 100 points in a period of a month-and-a-half.
It is interesting what two games can do for a perception of a team. After Game 1 of the series, the feeling around the team was of optimism. New York won six straight and found themselves right back in the playoff hunt, albeit, still with a large hill to climb. Now, entering the break, they have loss two straight find themselves back six games under .500 and seven games back of the final Wild Card spot.
Player of the Game: Grant Hartwig
Hartwig has been a very pleasant surprise after being called up from Triple-A. He turned in another quality relief outing Sunday as he only needed 12 pitches to get five outs. This included inducing a double play after T.J. McFarland got into trouble.
Hartwig now has a 0.79 ERA across his first eight big league appearances.
Francisco Álvarez. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Statistic of the Game: Francisco Álvarez’s Stat Line
It has been a storybook first half for young Mets’ catcher Francisco Álvarez. If early indications are true, he looks well on his way to becoming a power threat at catcher that baseball has not seen in a long time. However, on Sunday, we got a reminder that he is a rookie and only 21 years old.
Álvarez had a game to forget, as he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a double play. He also committed an error in the sixth inning which resulted in a run scoring. It is not always going to perfect for the young backstop, and Sunday, his second-straight start in a day game after a night game, was one to forget.
On Deck
The Mets, along with the other 29 MLB teams, will now be on a extended break as the All-Star game commences in Seattle. New York will be back in action on Friday, July 14 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The series will take place in Flushing, NY at Citi Field.
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