Heading into Sunday’s series finale with the Phillies, the Mets were riding high. Two walk-off wins this weekend have only solidified this team’s identity as fighters, and justifiably so.
You don’t stay alive through the adversity they’ve faced without a certain level of toughness ingrained within. Thankfully, things are very close to becoming whole once again.
With Brandon Nimmo set to return for Tuesday’s series opener in Atlanta and J.D. Davis beginning a rehab assignment this week, the timing coinciding with Mets’ recent high-water mark (five games up in the NL East) is opportune, to say the least.
Keeping the magic going will be another battle, altogether. Should be an exciting summer.
Sunday fun day! Let’s get into it.
Marcus Stroman, coming off a shortened outing on June 22 (left hip soreness), squared off against former Mets mainstay Zack Wheeler, who came into the day as the most valuable pitcher in MLB not named Jacob deGrom (3.5 fWAR to deGrom’s 4.4).
Stroman benefitted from two sterling diving outfield grabs in a scoreless first, one from Michael Conforto in right and another via Kevin Pillar in centerfield.
The Mets outfield’s five defensive runs saved and 5.9 ultimate zone rating this season as a unit (per FanGraphs) rank ninth and seventh, respectively, in MLB. Always a welcome development.
Stro stranded two in a scoreless first (Andrew McCutchen single, Rhys Hoskins walk), dotting Travin Jankowski’s high-inside corner with a 92 MPH sinker to freeze him up and close the frame.
Unfortunately, the good times wouldn’t last. The Mets’ defense, which has been a hallmark of this team early on, would abandon them on Sunday.
The Mets had Wheeler on his heels early on, putting men on the corners (Francisco Lindor bloop ground-rule double; Pete Alonso single) with one out in the first, but neither Conforto nor James McCann could land a power punch.
The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the second (Nick Maton walk; Ronald Torreyes single; Wheeler reached on Jeff McNeil’s drop on 1-4 putout) and plated one on Odubel Herrera’s sacrifice fly, but that’s all Stroman would allow in the frame.
At 47 pitches through two innings, Stroman would need to be efficient in order to stick around as long as possible. Not to be.
McCutchen (single) and Hoskins (walk) reached to start the third. Both moved into scoring position on Jankowski’s sacrifice bunt and Cutch came home on Bohm’s 6-3 screamer to Lindor, making it a 2-0 game.
Maton’s double scored Hoskins to make it a 3-0 game and Guillorme’s wayward throw on Torreyes’ infield hit allowed Maton to come around and make it a 4-0 game.
These things will happen. For every dozen pristine plays that Guillorme makes, we’ll get one of these. Onward.
Stroman’s day was done after three (four runs/two earned on five hits with three strikeouts and three walks; 74 pitches, 2.45 ERA), and Luis Rojas would need to find some length out of his bullpen.
The Mets’ off-day this past week was their last until the All-Star break (July 12 thru July 15). Conservation of the relief corps will be paramount. And not just in the immediate future.
We’re still yet to see the effect that a 162-game season following a 60-game campaign will have on pitching staffs as the year trudges on. Should be interesting.
Right-hander Corey Oswalt took the reins in the fourth, and just as he did in relief of Tylor Megill earlier in the week, the 27-year-old turned in some extremely valuable relief innings. Four scoreless, to be exact.
See? There’s always progress to be found. No turn left unstoned. Unfortunately, the Mets could get nothing going against Wheeler on Sunday.
Billy McKinney (starting in left field) singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, Pillar followed with a walk, and Oswalt sacrificed both into scoring position but McNeil popped out to end the threat.
Alonso added his second hit of the game with one out in the sixth but was left stranded by Conforto and McCann.
Dominic Smith, pinch-hitting for Oswalt in the seventh with two outs and Guillorme (walk) on first, lined out to Bohm moving to his left off of third to end the inning.
Wheeler was undoubtedly dealing (seven shutout innings on 103 pitches), but these are types of spots that the Mets’ regulars will need to start coming through in as the roster is replenished.
Patience. I guess.
Drew Smith turned in a scoreless eighth (3.12 ERA on the year) and the top of the Mets’ order, now facing left-hander Jose Alvarado, finally woke up in the bottom half. Sort of.
Lindor pulled a one-out double down the third-base line and Alonso notched his third hit of the afternoon — an opposite-field line shot into right — to drive in the Mets’ first run of the day.
That would be all they’d get, though. Conforto, hitless in the series, and McCann both struck out to leave Pete on base.
Smith worked a clean ninth, giving the Mets’ bottom-third of the lineup to work their magic once again.
Pillar tattooed an Archie Bradley offering into the second deck in left field to cut the Phils’ lead to 4-2 but that would be the extent.
And just like that, another week is in the record books. The Mets have scored just 29 runs over their last 13 games. Onward and upward.
The Nationals won, 5-1, over Miami, leaving them and the Mets separated by four games heading into their one-off makeup game on Monday in DC.
New Simply Amazin’ drops in the morning. LFGM.
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